;^3 




'()p)ii^lil X" 



COl'YKIC.UT DKl'OSIT. 




CHANCELLOR KENT 

From the pastel portrait by James Sharpless 

Made when the Chancellor was about twenty-tive years of a^e 

Original in the possession of Mr. William Kent 

of Tuxedo Park, New York 



CHANCELLOR KENT 

AT YALE 

1777-1781 



A PAPER WRITTEN FOR THE YALE LAW JOURNAL 
BY 

MACGRANE COXE 




NEW YORK 

PRIVATELY PRINTED 

1909 



F/ ^' 5 



-#^^- — 



Copyright, 1908, by 
Yale Law Journal 

Copyright, 1909, by 
Macgrane Coxe 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 

Two CoDies Received 

MAY 20 1809 

CLA<$ /^ XXc. No, 



CHANCELLOR KENT 
AT YALE 



CHANCELLOR KENT 
AT YALE 



CHANCELLOR KENT (Yale 1781) was essentially and typi- 
cally a Yale man. In every step of his industrious and use- 
ful life he illustrated the training of Yale, and, on 
many occasions throughout that life, from the beginning' to the end, 
he took occasion to give testimony of his indebtedness to his Alma 
Mater. He was a Yale man also by heredity. His father, Moss 
Kent, was a graduate of Yale of the Class of 1752.^ His grand- 
father, the Rev. Elisha Kent, who was born in 1704, was 
also a graduate of Yale, of the Class of 1729.^ He himself 
writes of his grandfather as "a Presbyterian minister who was 
well educated at Yale College,"^ and there can be no reasonable 
doubt, I think, but that the Chancellor's great-grandfather, John 
Kent, of Suffield, and the latter's father, Samuel Kent,* the first 
American ancestor, who settled in Gloucester, Mass., in 1644, would 
also have been graduates of Yale had there been, in their day, any 
Yale to be graduated from ! 

I think that there is a general impression among many that the 
Chancellor was rather more related to our sister university of 
Columbia, but this is due undoubtedly to the fact that what may be 
said to be the crowning work, "the bright, consummate flow'r," of 

1. Biographical Sketches/of the /Graduates of Yale College /with /Annals 
of the College History /'S>y/¥rM\k\\n Bowditcli Dexter /New York/Henry 
Holt & Company/ (Hereinafter cited as Dexter's Annals.) Second Series, 
p. 287. 

2. Dexter s Annals, First Series, p. 384. 

3. 17 Magazine of American History, 247. 

4. Dexter's Annals, First Series, p. 384. 



4 CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 

his distinguished labors were his immortal "Commentaries on Amer- 
ican Law," which were the result of, and had their origin in, the 
justly celebrated course of lectures which he delivered at Columbia 
after his enforced retirement from the Bench at the age of sixty- 
years, in 1823. But this merely illustrates the fact, of which we 
have no dearth of modern instances, that Columbia was then, as 
now, astute in the choice of the seminary from whence to draw its 
great teachers and administrators of the law. Its deservedly famous 
school of law was founded by a Yale man, Theodore W. Dwight, 
of the Yale Law School ; and it is too well recognized to require 
comment that that school was established upon its sound founda- 
tion and reared to fame by the learning and ability of Dr. Dwight.^ 
And, as we all know, that same school, at the present day, is ably 
presided over by its Dean, Prof. George W. Kirchwey, a Yale grad- 
uate of the famous Class of '79. 

But no one can review the life, or study the writings, of Chan- 
cellor Kent without becoming impressed with the fact that he was 
essentially, in training and in character, a product of this univer- 
sity ; and that he himself most abundantly admitted it and gloried in 
it. He peculiarly illustrated in his life and labors that spirit which 
we are proud to call, and I think, may justly and without undue 
arrogance call, the Yale spirit. In this we by no means mean to say 
that the spirit we thus cherish does not exist elsewhere. On the con- 
trary, it does exist, and we are happy many a time and oft to recog- 
nize it, in our sister universities ; but we love to think of it as par- 
ticularly, perhaps, existent at "dear old Yale," where it is certainly 
ever zealously cultivated. His thoroughness of research, hi? stead- 
fastness of purpose under adverse circumstances and prosperous 
alike, his abhorrence of, and entire freedom from sham or "posing" 
of any kind, his careful deliberation in weighing all the facts before 
reaching a conclusion, and above all, the cheerfulness and kindliness 
that clarified and illumined all his life, these are the qualities which 
go to form what we love to call the spirit of Yale, and these are 

I. The Columbia Law School was founded November T, 1858, by Dr. 
Theodore W. Dwight (Yale, Law), and almost from the beginning attracted 
great attention and large numbers of students. By 1875, it had enrolled 
573 students and was generally recognized as one of the first law schools 
of the country. The Green Bag, Vol. i, p. 141. Dr. Dwight was at the head 
of this school thirty-three years, from its foundation in 1858 until 189T. the 
year previous to his death. Nezv International Encyclopcedia, Vol. VI, p. 557. 



CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 5 

the qualities which are most manifest in the whole life of Chancellor 
Kent.i 

It would be far beyond the scope of such a paper as this, not to 
say immeasurably beyond the powers of your humble correspondent, 
to even attempt to do justice to the tremendous subject of the life and 
works of Chancellor Kent, but it has been thought that a brief 
review, somewhat historical in its nature, of tiic Chancellor and of 
his career, particularly as it touched most closely his Alma Mater, 
might not be uninteresting or unprofitable. 

Mr. Joline, in his able and delightful paper on "Martin Van 
Buren, the Lawyer," which he read before the New York State Bar 
Association at its annual meeting in 1905,- tells us that it is a good 
thing for such an association as that, and I think it may be 
said that it may be equally a good thing for a professional journal 
like this, "to turn for a moment from the learned essays, of whose 
worth and dignity we are all profoundly sensible, in order to review 
by way of historical reminiscence the careers of those who adorn 
the first century of our jurisprudence. . . . Such studies may 
not add materially to the sum of our knowledge, but they are useful 
in the promotion of the brotherly spirit and of the professional 
pride which every well-constituted Bar should possess and cherish." 

Mr. Justice Edward Patterson, Presiding Justice of the Appellate 
Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York for the 
First Department, wrote in 1873 ^ "Sketch of the Law Institute," a 
large and excellent association of lawyers in the City of New York.^ 
In the course of that sketch, which will well repay perusal, Judge 

1. Chancellor Kent was of a peculiarly happy disposition. He veritably 
seemed to revel in work and to rejoice in labor. One of his favorite lines 
was the encouraging exhortation of Aeneas to his fellows in the midst of 
their vicissitudes : "Haec olim meminisse juvabit." Aeneid, Book I, v. 203. 
We find it inscribed in the Chancellor's handwriting in his diaries later 
referred to {Kent Manuscripts, infra, p. 6), and everywhere he gives evi- 
dence that he cherished and cultivated its spirit. 

2. The Autograph Hunter / and / O ther Papers/hy Adrian Hoflfman Joline/ 
Privately printed/ Alderbrink Press, Chicago/MCMVII/.Mar/j» Van Buren, 
the Lazvyer, a paper read before the New York State Bar Association at its 
annual meeting, January, 1905. Annual Report of the Association for 1905. 
Vol. XXVIII, p. 182. 

3. This sketch is, as may well be imagined, from the character and ability 
of its author, a most charming one, and may be found printed as an intro- 
duction to the catalogue of the Law Institute Library, published in 1874. 



6 CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 

Patterson gives brief accounts — all too brief, alas, for us — of the 
various Presidents of the Institute, including Chancellor Kent, 
who was its first President (1828-1829) ; and in the course of this 
sketch Judge Patterson says that "of his [Kent's] course at col- 
lege we have no account." This was true when Mr. Justice Pat- 
terson wTOte his paper, but since then some interesting data have 
become accessible upon this period. In 1898, Chancellor Kent's 
great-grandson, Mr. William Kent of Tuxedo Park, N. Y., wrote 
a most graceful and agreeable memoir of the life of his distin- 
guished ancestor.^ In 1891, there was published the diary of Dr. 
Ezra Stiles, who was President of Yale College during almost all of 
the four years that the Chancellor was a student there,^ and, in 1904, 
through the generosity and public spirit of the family of the descend- 
ants of the Chancellor, a large and most valuable collection of man- 
uscript letters, journals and other memoranda of the Chancellor, 
were deposited in the Library of Congress, and there have been, with 
the most loving and enlightened care, assorted and safeguarded in the 
Bureau of Manuscripts, under the direction of Mr. Worthington C. 
Ford. Among these manuscripts are quite a number which refer 
to the Chancellor's life at Yale, and bear testimony to his high appre- 
ciation, increasing as life went on, of the advantages he derived from 
his course there. In a number of journals he recounts the details 
of visits to New Haven at Commencement times and at other times, 
during which his whole attention was devoted to the College and 
those connected with it.^ 

1. Memoirs and Letters/of /James Kent, LL.D. /late Chancellor of the 
State of New York/author oi/ Commentaries on American Lazv, etc/by his 
great-grandson/William Kent/of the New York Bar/Boston /Little, 
Brown & Company, 1898/ (Hereinafter cited as Memoirs.) 

2. The Literary Diary/of /Ezra Stiles, D.D., LL.D. /President of Yale Col- 
lege./Edited under the authority of the corporation of Yale University/by 
Franklin Bowditch Dexter, M.A./ (Three volumes, 1769-1781.) New York/ 
Charles Scribner's Sons/i90i/(Hereinafter cited as Stiles' Diary.) 

3. These manuscripts of Chancellor Kent were given to the Library of 
Congress in 1904 by Messrs. William and Edwin C. Kent of Tuxedo Park, 
N. Y., the great-grandsons of the Chancellor. The letters have been arranged 
and mounted in eleven volumes. There are about 970 of them, some from the 
most distinguished men of the time, including Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, 
John Quincy Adams, William Wirt, Charles Sumner, William H. Seward and 
Charles O'Conor. The journals or diaries were kept by the Chancellor in 
small, plain, blank books. There are fourteen of these, and each is preserved 
in a stiff, leather-covered box. They cover a period, not continuously, from 



CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 7 

Thus it is that we are enabled to get at first hand some insight 
into the Hfe of the boy who was to become the immortal man. 

Chancellor Kent was born July 31, 1763, at the house of his 
father, Moss Kent, in the Precinct of Fredcricksburgh, in the County 
of Dutchess, State of New York.^ At the age of five years, he was 
sent to Norwalk, Conn., to school. Here he lived with his grand- 
father (his mother's father). Dr. Uriah Rogers, a physician of Nor- 
walk, until the spring of 1772, and, as he says himself: "passed 
nearly four years in an English school and in innocent and youthful 
sports." He adds that "the government of my grandfather was 
pretty strict; his family, after the manner of the day, was orderly, 
quiet and religious."^ When he was about nine years old, on the 
28th of July, 1772, he went to reside with his uncle, John Kane, 
Esq., in Pawling Precinct,^ and here he continued his studies, and, 
as he tells us, "commenced to study Cordery* and the Latin tongue."^ 
He remained there until April, 1773, and was then sent to Danbury 

1797 to 1847, the year of his death, in the eighty- fourth year of his age. 
Among the memoranda is an interesting paper in the handwriting of the 
Chancellor, entitled by him, Chronological Memoranda, giving the dates of 
the principal events in his life from his birth until his second appointment 
as Professor of Law in Columbia College, after his enforced retirement from 
the Bench at the age of sixty, in 1823. See Note, page 24, infra. (The 
manuscripts will hereafter be cited as Kent Manuscripts.) 

1. The particular region, after the manner of the rural communities of 
that day, was then known as "the Oblong." It is at present the village of 
Doanesburg in the Town of South-East, County of Putnam, N. Y., on the Con- 
necticut border. The territory now embraced in the Town of South-East 
was originally known as Phillips' Patent, and afterwards as Phillipi. This 
was its name at the time the future Chancellor entered Yale; and thus it is 
that we find him entered on Dr. Stiles' roster as Jacobus Kent — Phillipi. 
Infra, p. ii. The Birthplace of Chancellor Kent, etc., a paper by William 
S. Pelletreau, containing an interesting letter by the Chancellor, with auto- 
graph maps of the region of his birth, written in 1846 to his cousin, John 
CuUen Van Rensselaer, Esquire, 17 Magazine of Am. History, 285. 

2. The Chancellor's memorandum account of the principal events in his 
life. Kent Manuscripts, Vol III. Memoirs, p. 7. 

3. Mr. Kane had married Sybil, one of the sisters of the Chancellor's 
father, and from this union are descended the distinguished family of the 
name in the State of New York, including Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, the famous 
Arctic explorer, and Mr. Grenville Kane of Tuxedo Park, N. Y. 

4. Corderius Maturin, Select Century of Corderiiis' Colloquies, Latin and 
English, by John Clarke. London. i2mo. Loivndes' Bibliographer's Manual 
of English Literature (1858) Vol. I, p. 523. 

5. Memoirs, p. 7. 



8 CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 

to a Latin school under the Rev. Ebenezer Baldwhi (Yale 1763)/ 
a learned, gallant and distinguished brother of the Chancellor's 
beloved friend and classmate, the equally learned and distinguished 
Judge Simeon Baldwin (Yale 1781),^ who was the grandfather of 
the Hon. Simeon E. Baldwin, at the present time Chief Justice of the 
Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut, and an honored and beloved 
professor in our own law school. Chancellor Kent has told us some- 
thing of the high regard and affection he felt for this preceptor in 
the address which he delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa Society 
at New Haven upon the occasion of the fiftieth reunion of his class 
in 1831.^ 

At the risk of prolonging this article unduly I must ask you to 
pause with me to hear these words, for they seem to me in a remark- 
able degree to reflect honor equally upon the orator and his subject, 
and upon the Alma Mater which nourished and trained them both. 

After giving us an account of the origin and foundation of the 
College and of its distinguished founders and of its Presidents, the 
speaker calls our attention to the fact that it is not only to the Pres- 
idents that w€ owe our debt of gratitude, but that the instructors as 
well, in more humble spheres, contribute in an invaluable degree 
to the development of the student. 

"The tutors," he tells us, "in every period of the College history, 
have been very efficient instructors, and though many of them have 
been, at the time, 'to Fortune and to Fame unknown,' yet it is cer- 
tain that the College has been much indebted for the elevation of the 
standard of moral sentiment, for the cultivation of correct taste, 
and for the formation of some of the most illustrious of its pupils, 
to the diligent, steady, painful and unobtrusive counsel and efforts 
of that meritorious class of teachers." 

And then it is that, having mentioned Mr. Baldwin as among 
these tutors, the learned Chancellor continues as follows : 

And suffer me for a moment to bring to recollection from among this 
class of men, the Reverend Ebenezer Baldwin, of Danbury, for it is to that 
great and excellent man that the individual, who has now the honor to 
address you, stands indebted for the best part of his early classical instruction. 

1. Dexter's Annals, Third Series, p. 4. 

2. Dexter's Annals, Fourth Series, p. 178. 

3. An/Address/Delivered at New Haven/Before the Phi Beta Kappa 
Society/Scptcml)er 13, 1831/by James Kent/ New Haven. /Printed by 
Hezckiali Howe/i83i./Publislied at the request of the ^ B. K. Society/ 
A printed copy may be found in tlie Yale University Library. 



CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 9 

Mr. Baldwin was a tutor in this College for the period of four years, and 
he settled as a minister in the First Congregational Church in Danbury, in 
the year 1770. He was a scholar and a gentleman, of the fairest and bright- 
est hopes. He was accustomed to read daily a portion of the Hebrew Scrip- 
tures and he was extensively acquainted with Greek and Roman Literature. 

His style of preaching was simple, earnest and forcible, with the most 
commanding and the most graceful dignity of manner; and if I can trust to 
my own memory, he was pursuing in the pulpit a steady, methodical and 
comprehensive view of the whole system of Christian Theology. His zeal 
for learning was ardent, and his acquisitions and reputation rapidly increas- 
ing, when he was doomed to fall prematurely in the flower of his age. and 
while engaged in his country's service. Though his career was painfully 
short, he had lived long enough to attract general notice and the highest 
respect by his piety, his learning, his judgment and his patriotism. Mr. 
Baldwin took an enlightened and active interest in the rise and early progress 
of the American Revolution. His Thanksgiving Sermon in the Autumn of 
1775 was so excellent, so encouraging and so appropriate that it was called 
for and printed at the expense of a leading member of the Episcopal Church 
and it now remains deposited among the documents of the New York His- 
torical Society.^ In the impending and gloomy campaign of 1776 he was 
incessant in his efforts to cheer and animate his townsmen to join the 
militia, which were called out in the defense of New York. To give weight 
to his eloquent exhortations, he added that of his heroic example. He went, 
voluntarily, as a Chaplain to one of the militia regiments. His office was 
pacific, but he nevertheless arrayed himself in military armor. I was present 
when he firmly and cheerfully bade adieu to his devoted parishioners and 
affectionate pupils. This was about the first of August, 1776, and what a 
mom.ent in the annals of the country! There never was a period more awful 
and portentous. It was the very crisis of our destiny. No occasion could 
have afforded better proof, or a more unerring test of a patriot's zeal and 
magnanimous devotion. The defense of New York had then become des- 
perate. An enemy's army of thirty thousand men, well disciplined and well 
equipped, was in this vicinity ready to overwhelm it. General Washington. 

I. The text of this sermon was from Habakkuk III: 17-18: 

"Although the Fig Tree shall not blossom, neither shall Fruit be in the 
Vines, the Labour of the Olive shall fail, and the Fields shall yield no Meat ; 
the Flock shall be cut off from the Fold, and there shall be no Herd in the 
Stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my Salvation." 

This sermon was printed in 1776 in a pamphlet of 42 pages, and may 
be found in the New York Historical Society's Bound Pamphlets, Vol. 551. 
The title page of the pamphlet is as follows : 

The Duty of Rejoicing/under/Calamities and Afflictions/considered and 
improved/in a/Sermon/preached at/Danbur_v/November 16, 1775/A day set 
apart for Thanksgiving in/The Colony of/Connecticut/by Ebenezer Baldwin 
A.M./Pastor of the First Church of Christ in Danbury/New York/Printed 
by Hugh Gaine, Bookseller and/Stationer, at the Bible and Crown/in Han- 
over Square/1776/ 



lo CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 

in his letter to Congress of the third of August, stated that his army fell 
short of eighteen thousand men, and part of them were extremely sickly, and 
that the circumstances around him were melancholy and distressing. Mr. 
Baldwin was in the American camp, in the suburbs of New York, when the 
British Army landed on Long Island in the night of the 21st of August, and 
I heard his letter read at the time containing the notice of that event and of 
the awful thunder-storm which accompanied it, and hung over the camp for 
hours, spreading terror and death, as if the physical as well as moral ele- 
ments of destruction were involved in angry commotion. Defeats, retreats 
and sickness disheartened and rapidly reduced and dispersed our little army, 
part of which had been miserably equipped and wasted by disease even from 
the beginning of that terrible campaign. The thirteen or fourteen regi- 
ments of Connecticut Militia, scantily filled in the first instance, soon became 
fatally reduced by sickness, insubordination and impatience under the ser- 
vice; and they were finally discharged on the 24th of September. Mr. Bald- 
win fell a victim to the sickness that prevailed in the army, and he had 
only strength sufificient to reach home, where he died on the first of October, 
1776, at the age of thirty-two, honored by the deepest sympathies of his own 
people and with the public veneration and sorrow. 

At the time of the death of the Rev. Mr. Baldwin, Chancellor 
Kent was in his thirteenth year, and had read, he tells us, Eutropius, 
Justin and Cornelius Nepos and Virgil and had made progress in 
Latin exercises. After the death of Mr. Baldwin he continued his 
studies under Mr. Ebenezer White at Danbury, Mr. Ross at Strat- 
field, and again with Mr. White at Newton, until he entered Yale 
College in September, 1777. It will be observed that he was then 
about one month more than fourteen years of age. 

President Daggett was then rounding out his term of eleven 
years as President of the College, and in March, 1778, Dr. Stiles 
accepted the office of President, being inducted into that station on 
the 8th of July following. Under date of that day President Stiles 
made up a catalogue of the faculty and students of the College as 
they then existed^ and there we find- the Class of 1781 enrolled as 
"Recentes." This seems to me a much nicer designation than the 
word we now use ! Why should it have been changed ? If it had 
not, how many of us would have been spared the little sting of mor- 
tification when our friends addressed us in the days when we felt, 
perhaps, more important than at any other time in our lives since, 
by the sarcastically intoned name of "Freshman !" 

1. Stiles' Diary, Vol. II, p. 284. 

2. Idem, p. 286. 



CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE ii 

Well, these "Rcccntes" were twenty-nine in number and among 
them we find "Jacobus Kent — Phillipi."^ 

As is well known, the work of the students of the College was 
frequently interrupted during the Revolutionary War by the military 
operations in the vicinity of New Haven. The Chancellor tells us 
himself in a note to the ^ B. K. oration that he was in New 
Haven and saw the British troops in the act of landing at West 
Haven early on the morning of July 5th, 1779. He tells us that 
James Hillhouse, who was graduated in 1773, and was in after-life 
a Senator in Congress from Connecticut and "who still lives as ven- 
erable for his moral worth and goodness as he has through life been 
admired for zealous, distinguished and disinterested public service," 
commanded on that day the 2nd Company of the Governor's Foot 
Guards ; and that they, by their prompt co-operation with the militia 
and volunteers, compelled the Rritish troops to take a circuitous 
route of nine miles before they could enter and plunder the town. 
The Chancellor adds that among the volunteers were former Presi- 
dent Daggett, "who fought, was wounded, taken prisoner and mal- 
treated."^ 

The inauguration of President Stiles on July 8, 1778, marked the 
reassembling of the College after a long period of dispersion, and 
Dr. Stiles, in his inaugural address, took occasion to congratulate 
his audience upon that fact. But it was again dispersed in July, 
1779, and, during the whole period of Chancellor Kent's attendance 
between September, 1777, and September, 1781, the College was 
not open for regular work more than half the usual time ; and, indeed. 
President Stiles tells us that the Commencement at which Chancellor 
Kent's class was graduated, September 12, 1781, was the first public 
Commencement in his Presidency and the first public Commence- 
ment during a period of seven years.^ 

Chancellor Kent thus describes the condition of the College : 

1. See page 7, supra, note. President Stiles in this catalogue tells us 
that on July 15, 1778, Yale College consisted of 132 students, of which 123 
were present and 9 were absent. Idem, p. 286. 

2. Phi Beta Kappa Oration, p. 39. For a more prolonged account refer- 
ence may be made to a work entitled Yale/and/her Honor Roll/in the/ 
American Revolution,/ i^/S-i/'Ss, /'mduding original letters, record of service 
and/biographical sketches/by/Henry P. Johnston./New York./Privately 
printed/i888./Press of/G. P. Putnam's Sons/New York/ 

3. Stiles' Diary, Vol. II, p. 554. 



12 CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 

The country was so unsettled and disturbed from 1776 to 1781, and the 
means of subsistence were so difficult that the College was not open and in 
regular exercise more than half the usual time. But even the collegiate terms 
broken and interrupted as they were, proved sufficient to give the students 
a taste for classical learning and philosophical science, and to teach them how 
to cultivate their own resources in the various pursuits and duties of life. 
President Stiles' zeal for civil and religious liberty was kindled at the altar 
of the English and New England Puritans and it was animating and vivid. 
A more constant and devoted friend to the Revolution and independence of 
this country never existed. He had anticipated it as early as the year 1760 
and his whole soul was enlisted in favor of every measure which led on 
gradually to the formation and establishment of the American Union. The 
frequent appeals which he was accustomed to make to the heads and hearts 
of his pupils, concerning the slippery paths of youth, the grave duties of life, 
the responsibilities of man, and the perils and hopes and honors and des- 
tiny of our country, will never be forgotten by those who heard them ; and 
especially when he came to touch, as he often did, with "a master's hand and 
prophet's fire" on the bright vision of the future prosperity and splendor 
of the United States.^ 

In this respect, also, Judge Simeon Baldwin, in his letter to the 
Hon. William Kent, to which we shall presently refer again, said : 

It will be remembered we were in college during part of the Revolu- 
tionary War, and all the classes were for a time convened for safety in sep- 
arate country towns, in the center of the State. James Kent and myself 
joined the class in Glastonbury, under the care of Professor Strong as tutor, 
and continued together until the January vacation ; were then dismissed and 
not called together again until June of the next year. We then met at New 
Haven and Dr. Stiles was inaugurated President.^ 

Yes, we can gather that President Stiles made frequent appeals 
to the students concerning "the slippery paths of youth" and "the 
grave duties of life" from an inspection of his own diary. Thus, 
under date of February 24, 1781, we find the following entry: 

I gave three theological discourses this day as usual on Saturdays. At 
II o'clock I explained Vincent on Catechism to the Senior Class. In the 
afternoon a lecture to a select number of serious scholars, about 20, in 
the library from all the classes. At evening prayers I expounded a Chapter 
in the Confession of Faith, publickly, in the Chapel. The good Lord accom- 
pany with a blessing my Endeavours to impregnate the Minds of my pupils 
with doctrinal and experimental Knowledge in Divine and Heavenly things. 

And under dale of February 17, we find the following: 

1. Phi Beta Kappa Oration, p. 41. 

2. Memoirs, p. 12. 



\ 




WEST ROCK IN NEW HAVEN. 



d^l^JZ^ ^— ^'>-T ^-^' ^ 



/ 



^<:^-^C:t^ k^ CS3Z ^7^?^aL^ 



Facsimile from Chancellor Kent's copy of Barber's New Haven, 1831 

See pane 13 and Note 4 on same page. 



'^. i!]{!pfi;"~" prpjiF" 




CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 13 

This Aft. a Chamber theol. Lecture — Subject Whether there are any 
Promises to the Doings of the Unrcgenerate.^ 

President Stiles also gives us a roster of the students by classes 
for the year 1779- 1780, and here he gives us- the location of their 
rooms. JJy this time the Chancellor's class had become Juniors 
and their numbers had been reduced to twenty-six from the number 
of twenty-nine which they possessed when "Recentes." We find 
that the Chancellor occupied room 14-E. This was in the only 
dormitory building then existing, which was then known as Connec- 
ticut Hall, afterwards known and hallowed to the memory of myri- 
ads of Yale Sophomores as old "South Middle." President Stiles 
tells us that 14-E meant room No. 14 on the east front of the build- 
ing^ and Chancellor Kent, in later years, confirms the fact by many 
visits he paid to this same room. 

In 1 83 1, the year when the Chancellor returned and delivered 
the Phi Beta Kappa oration, there was published in New Haven an 
illustrated duodecimo volume upon the history and antiquities of 
that town.* Chancellor Kent purchased a copy, and, following his 
delightful custom, so valuable to posterity, he copiously annotated 
it. This copy, replete with the most interesting notes and com- 
ments by its distinguished owner, is now in the possession of his 
great-grandson and biographer, Mr. William Kent, of Tuxedo Park, 
and to his generosity am I deeply indebted for being able to illustrate 
these pages with a few of the pictures from this book, rendered more 
interesting and illuminating by the autograph notes of the Chan- 
cellor. 

The facsimile, here given from Barber's New Haven, together 
with the Chancellor's note in relation to it, gives, it will be seen, 
a clear and vivid idea of the buildings as they existed, not 
only in 1831, but in 1777-T781, and it will be noted that here Chan- 
cellor Kent marks his room. No. 14-E., as being the one on the 
northeast corner of the top floor of Connecticut Hall. As is well 
known, at least to every son of Yale, there is to-day in that room 
upon the west side of the mantle-piece a tablet commemorating the 

1. Stiles' Diary, Vol. II, p. 512. 

2. Stiles' Diary, Vol. II, p. 428. 

3. Idem. 

4. Hisiory/aitd/Aittiquities/of Nczv Haven. (Conn.) from its earliest 
settlement to the present time./CoIlected and compiled/from the most authen- 
tic sources/by J. W. Barber./Illustrated with engravings./New Haven/1831/ 



14 CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 

fact that there Chancellor Kent lived during the years 1780 and 
1781 ; and on the east side of the mantle-piece is another tablet com- 
memorating the fact that, in the same room, nearly forty years after, 
lived, during his college days, the venerable and honored Theodore 
Dwight Woolsey (Yale 1820) from 1846 to 1871, President of 
Yale.^ 

Again, under date of June 22, 1781, Dr. Stiles, with his method- 
ical care, made a catalogue of students with their classes and rooms 
for the year 1 780-1 781, and here our friends are Seniors and there 
are twenty-five of them, the number that were graduated. 

Chancellor Kent, although a prolific writer on most other impor- 
tant subjects, wrote but little of himself. In the manuscript sketch 
of his life, to which we have referred, he devotes but a few lines 
to his college course.- But most fortunately for us, sixty-seven 
years later, in February, 1848, his distinguished classmate. Judge 
Baldwin, to whom reference has been made, in a letter addressed 
to the Hon. William Kent, the son of the Chancellor,^ supplied a 
charming and interesting account of the Chancellor's college life, 
which, in his own memoranda, the Chancellor himself dismissed 
with but a few words. Space will not permit my incorporating all 
of this interesting letter here, but it is well worth perusing in toto 
and can be found in Mr. William Kent's "Memoirs" at page 9. I 
cannot refrain, however, from quoting a few words from Judge 
Baldwin's mature estimate of his classmate. He says that he was 
first introduced to James Kent on the first Monday in May, 1773, 
at Danbury, that he was then about ten years of age, the youngest 
of the school, and "a friendly, social, innocently playful boy, beloved 
by all who knew little Jimmie Kent, as he was familiarly called." 

1. In his journal of his "Excursion to New Haven," September 12-15, 
1 83 1, when he went there to deliver the $ B. K. Oration, the Chancellor tells 
us that, on that occasion, he ascended and visited this room, and adds : "My 
room-mates, when I was Sophomore, were Noyes and Tomlinson, and when 
I was Senior, they were Noyes and Wright, and they are all alive." Kent 
Manuscripts, Journal No. 10, 1829-1831. Infra, pages 29-30. 

2. Kent Manuscripts, Vol. III. 

3. The Hon. William Kent, the Chancellor's only son, was a distinguished 
practitioner at the New York Bar, being for a time a partner of the Hon. 
Henry E. Davics, afterwards Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals. In 1841, 
Mr. William Kent became a Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of 
New York, and in 1846, he was appointed to the Professorship in Law at 
Harvard University, which had been theretofore held by Mr. Justice Story. 



CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 15 

Judge Baldwin says that he was studious and attentive to all the 
rules of the school and a good scholar in all the branches taught, 
and then continues : 

We were then [after the death of the Rev. Ebenezer Baldwin, October 
I, 1776] separated for one year and met as Freshmen of Yale College in 
1777. Our class was small, consisting of young men grown up, most of them 
much older than either of us.' He, I think, was the youngest of the class, 
but was better fitted for his standing than most of them. While we were 
members of college the students were often dispersed and their studies inter- 
rupted in consequence of the war, but he still kept his standing in his class, 
and, to say the least, in all the classical studies, he ranked among the best. 
In history, in the belles-lettres studies, and in reading generally, he excelled 
them all. His attention to what he read was strict, and his memory was 
uncommonly retentive. It was the common remark of his companions that 
they could generally tell the author he last read by the style and matter of 
his next composition. 

He wrote his compositions with great care, and in a pleasing, flowing 
style. But the rapid flow of his ideas often embarrassed him in public speak- 
ing, whether extemporary or mcnioritcr. When preparing for public speak- 
ing, he has often requested me to hear him rehearse, and, by signal, to check 
him when speaking too rapidly, as he generally would, without knowing it, 
when he felt the spirit of the subject. On these occasions, when often 
checked, I have known him to sit down and weep; but he would try again 
and again, and by repeated trials, did learn, in a great measure, to regulate 
the rapidity of his speech, which, without attention, would, at times, be unin- 
telligible. He left College universally beloved by his class and ranked as a 
scholar among the first. 

Unfortunately, the "Kent Alanuscripts" in the Library of Con- 
gress do not contain any letters of the future Chancellor written 
during his college years, nor have I been able to find any elsewhere. 
But those manuscripts do contain nine letters written to him by his 
father between December 4, 1779, and August 29, 1781, which man- 
ifestly bear witness to the sweet and confidential relations existing 
between the father and the son, and serve to make us all the more 
regretful that we cannot know the letters of the son to the father 
which drew them forth. These letters seem to me so interesting 
that, at the risk of encroaching unduly upon space, I shall venture to 
set them out here just as they appear in the originals. They are all 

I. Judge Baldwin was born in Norwich, December 14, 1761, and was 
now, therefore, but sixteen years of age. Kent, as we have seen, was but 
fourteen. 



i6 CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 

addressed to "James Kent, student at Yale College in New Haven," 
and all bear the endorsement in the young man's hand, with the date 
of each, "From my Father." 
p. q . Campo* ye 4TH December, 1779. 

I Received your Letter of the i6th Ult. and also yours of 30th by the Post 
and shou'd have sent you those Articles you requested sooner, could I have 
got 'em. But I have since procured 'em by Loan except the Scale & Dividers, 
but I suppose your Scale & Dividers & Mr. Hazard's are at Mr. Crosby's at 
Philippi & I shall go up there in a few Days & hope to find 'em. You must 
endeavour to borrow or buy 'em at New Haven if they can't be found at 
Philippi. I send you by the Post 2 Vols Martin's Philosophy & Atkinson's 
Epitome also 100 Dollars and my black Jackett which I wou'd have got made 
at New Haven if you can buy Lining for I can get none here. I expect to 
go to Hartford within 3 or 4 Weekes after Mony and then hope to supply you 
with more. I hope you will make a wise Improvement of the Advantages 
you enjoy and be ever mindfuU of the one Thing needfull.' 

I am my dear Son your 

Affectionate Father 

(Signed) Moss Kent. 

,, T^ c" Cam PC YE 3D May, 1780. 

My Dear Son ^ ' '' 

I send you by Mr. Taylor the Post a Horse ye saddle bags and 91 Con- 
tinental Dollars and I would have you get leave of the President to come 
home tomorrow so as not to be on expense with the Horse. I wish you 
we'd buy Loweth's Grammar, and call at Curtiss's Tavern at Stratford and 
get a Bag with Some Hay Seed in it that I paid for Last Summer and bring 
it with you. I am your Affectionate Father 

(Signed) Moss Kent. 

-, T^ „ Campo ye 26TH Dec. 1780. 

My Dear Son 

I send you by Mr. Taylor the Post £2:15:9 State mony & a paper of Ink 

powder & a Blankett. I have not got my Leather Curried yet so that I co'd 

not get you a pair of shoes — & if you can't do without a pair Immediately 

you must buy a pair at N. Haven perhaps it may be a fortnight before I can 

get 'em made. I have but this day dismis'd the mason and workmen. Polly 

has rec'd [torn out] Letters from her husband. His brother John [has] come 

to Philadelphia about 6 weeks ago & is daily expected here I wish you 

could be at home when he is here. 

I am your afifectionate Father 

(Signed) Moss Kent. 

1. A village in the Parish of Green's Farms in Fairfield County, Con- 
necticut, the home of the Chancellor's father at this time. Dexter' s Annals, 
Second Series, p. 288. 

2. To sit at Jesus' feet and hear His word. — St. Luke 10: 42, 39. 



CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 17 

My Dear Son ^^^^^ ^'^ 9th Jany 1781. 

I send you by Mr. Taylor ye Post. 25/ & Wo'd Inform you we are all 
well. If you are willing to come home & see us I would have you hire a 
Horse if you can conveniently. I can keep the Horse well. You may 
invite one of your Classmates to come home with you. Mr. John Henderson 
is not yet come we expect him daily. 

I am your loving Father 

(Signed) Moss Kent. 

,, e 28TH Feb. 1 781. 

My dear Son ' 

Inclosed I send you £4 :2 :g State moiiy which is all the mony I have at 
present to spare which I hope will ans'r for a little while. You'll write me as 
you want it, & I shall endeavour to supply you. It gives me pleasure to do 
for my dear Children. I hope you will improve yr Time to the best advan- 
tage & be sure dont forget the one Thing needfull.^ Strive to get yt Wis- 
dom yt is from above, for if in this Life we only have hope, we are of all 
Creatures the most Miserable. I shall get you a pair of Shoes made in a few 
days. Mrs. Henderson rec'd a Letter Yesterday from her brother John. 
Dat: ye ist: Instant. He says it is uncertain when he shall come as he is 
detained in transacting Business with Congress. The affairs of Congress 
with their Agent at New Orleans is committed wholly to Mr. John Hender- 
son which is the cause of his being detained at Philadelphia. And indeed 
a great Betrustment for such a Youth. 

I am your Loving Father 

(Signed) Moss Kent. 

My dear Son Greenfarms 30TH Ap. 1781. 

I send you a Horse & saddle & Bags by Mr. Tyler & have wrote to the 
President to let you come Home on Fryday next — Mr. Tyler will deliver you 
the horse in the forenoon on Fryday as he must ride him home, & bring him 
down on Fryday — I wo'd have you bring home every Article of Clothing you 
have in your custody. 

I send you 12/ in silver mony & £4:3:0 in State mony which is all I had 
by me — hope it may answer your end. I have wrote to the Steward Mr. 
Attwater to send me a copy of my account current, you'll call on him for it 
to bring to me. I wish you cou'd buy some black Ball & bring home & a cake 
of shaving soap. 

We have had a most agreeable visit from John Henderson for 14 days — A 
very accomplished Gentleman indeed. He wanted very much to see j^ou. 

I am your Loving Father 

(Signed) Moss Kent. 
P. S. Your Classmate Isaacs was taken 
off by the enemy Sunday night. 

I. Idem, supra, p. 16, note. 



i8 CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 

My Son Wednesday Morning i8th July, 1781. 

Mr. Taylor the Post wanted my Waggon to bring some Rum from 
N. Haven. Therefore I thought it best to let him a Horse to go in the 
Waggon & for you to ride in the Waggon with him & bring home your bed 
& other Furniture. 

I send you 17/ hard mony & wish you wo'd buy me 2 pair of shoe 
Buckells one for me & the other for Moss, cheap string ones — such as you 
think suitable for us. I think it best & cheapest Time to get home Your 
things now — ■ 

I am yr. Loving Father 

(Signed) Moss Kent. 

My dear Son ^Sth Augt. 1781. 

I send you by Mr. Taylor the Post 10 liard Dollars which Mr. Deliver- 
ance Bennett was so kind as to lend me. I also send you those Buttons 
which I suppose you forgot to take along with you— I wo'd have you write 
me a line by the Post & let me know whether you got those Guineas from 
Capt. Thorp, & if you are like to get a suit of Cloathes, & what you want 
from me. I shall endeavour to get all the money I possibly can for you.— 

from your affectionate Father 

(Signed) Moss Kent. 

My dear Son 29th Augt. 1781. 

I have sent by yr. Brother [sic] Saml Hazard £3.0.0 to Mr. Chipman in 
part payment of the goods you had of him & also £3.18.0 to Mr. Attwater & 
have wrote to him to wait till I can turn wheat into money for the rest, & 
to let the President know that he is made easy, which I hope will quiet him. 
I wish you wo'd speak to Col. Drake & give my compliments to him — & 
see whether he would entertain your sisters, as they have a mind to come to 
Commencement. 

from yr. affectionate Father 

(Signed) Moss Kent. 

It seems beyond question from these letters that the same gentle, 
kindly and cheerful spirit, which, we have abundant evidence, the 
Chancellor exhibited toward all others, he also cherished and culti- 
vated toward his father and his family, and in this connection and 
as illustrative of this fact, I venture to extract a letter which, many 
years afterwards, When a Justice of the Supreme Court of the State 
of New York, the Chancellor wrote from Albany where he was then 
residing to his brother, the namesake of his father, Moss Kent, then 
a Senator-elect of the State of New York. The Senator had 
accepted an invitation from Judge Kent to make his home with the 
latter during the session of the Senate, and, in response to a recent 



CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 19 

letter of Moss Kent stating- the pleasant anticipations with which he 
looked forward to this visit, the Chancellor replied as follows : 

T^ -r, Albany, Deck 29x11, 1799. 

Dear Brother : 

Your letter is received and Elislia Kane says he executed your business 
with the Clerk and forwarded the Bills of Costs to Arch. Kane at Canejo- 
harie. You cannot possibly anticipate with more pleasure than we do the 
approach of the third and last Tuesday in January. This past month of 
December has been rather solitary to us and I reckon upon your living with 
me with the utmost pleasure. We are preparing everything to make your 
accommodations comfortable and pleasant. Yesterday your sister put up 
the curtains of your bed and prepared the room for you. My cellar is filled 
with provisions and my yard with wood. The Rumford fire place answers its 
end admirably and the office is always warm. 

As the term approaches I am studying my cases and there are some very 
important questions that we judges are discussing and settling. I have, how- 
ever, finished Butler's and Hargrave's Co Litt. and Juvenal almost, in addi- 
tion to a great deal of miscellaneous reading and avocation and a good por- 
tion of visits. If you can any ways conveniently finish your county court 
business you had better be here early or the first week in term and attend 
the arguments in court. I have no doubt you will be well repaid by infor- 
mation. The second week the Senate meets and you will have your atten- 
tion dissipated. The great Le Guen cause is to come before the Senate 
this winter and you will ha^ve to decide perhaps on very important points 
as an appellate judge. 

Your sister and little Bess are well and anxious to have you come. 

Your Affte. 

(Signed) J. Kent.* 

And it is this kind and gentle and cheerful qtiality which caused 
the Hon. Philip Hone, distinguished citizen and Mayor of New 
York, to write of Chancellor Kent in the latter's seventy-second year 
as follows : 

I would that Heaven had made me such a man. . . . His constitution 
sound, the happy result of good habits and a cheerful disposition, and the 
consciousness of purity of heart and uniformly virtuous intentions. I do not 
know so perfect a model as Chancellor Kent, or a man so much to be 
envied.^ 

But the Commencement exercises of the Class of 1781 must have 
been rather a serious matter, for President Stiles makes the follow- 
ing reference to them under date of September 12, 1781 : 

1. Kent Manuscripts, Vol. I. 

2. The Diary /of /Philip Hone. /i828-i8ji. /Edited, with an introduction/ 
by/Bayard Cutting./New York. Dodd, Mead & Co.,/1889. Two Volumes. 
Vol. I, p. 124. 



20 CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 

Public commencement here. The first puljlic Commencement in my 
Presidency. Exercises 3 hours in the forenoon & 3 hours P. M. I con- 
ferred the academic degrees upon 25 Bachelors of Arts & 46 Masters. 
Total 71. 

And then follows a long account copied from the "public prints" 
of the exercises in detail. They were indeed so learned and of 
such length that they would certainly shock the "Bachelor" and 
even the "Master" of the present day.^ 

Among many other things, 'Chancellor Kent was the Cliosophic 
orator in English. Judge Baldwin delivered the salutatory oration 
in Latin. There was an anthem set to music by Mr. Samuel Dwight, 
(Yale 1773), a Greek oration by Mr. Perkins, a forensic disputation 
on the question as to 'Whether the literature of the Antients 
excelled that of the Moderns,' by Mr. Kent and Mr. Gridley on the 
affirmative, and Mr. Stebbins and Mr. Channing on the negative, 
and an Oration upon the Oriental Learning, in Hebrew, Chaldee 
and Arabic by the President." A Latin Valedictory Oration also 
was pronounced by Mr. Tutor Meigs, and the President closed the 
exercises of the day with prayer.'^ 

That, however, it produced no unpleasant effect upon the Chan- 
cellor is evident from two letters which he wrote respectively in 
September, 1785, and September, 1787, on two subsequent Com- 
mencement occasions to his classmate, Judge Baldwin, in New 
Haven,* expressing, in earnest terms, his regret at not having been 
able to attend the exercises. 

In the first of these letters, after speaking of his anxiety to hear 
from Mr. Baldwin, and lamenting "that I am not only prevented 
hitherto from the pleasure of seeing you, but also find such long 
interruptions in our correspondence," and saying that "the older, 
therefore, I grow, my friend, the more do I prize you," he refers to 
the Commencement lately passed as follows : 

1. Stiles' Diary, Vol. II, p. 554. 

2. The manuscript of this Hebrew oration upon the Hebrew literature 
among Dr. Stiles' papers shows that it was originally composed in 1778, but 
this was the first opportunity for its delivery! Stiles' Diary, Vol. II, p. 554. 

3. Stiles' Diary, Vol. II, pp. 512, 539, 547, 554, 556. 

4. I am indebted for the privilege of being able to quote from these letters 
here to the generous kindness of the recipient's distinguished grandson, 
Judge Simeon E. Baldwin of New Haven, in whose possession the original 
letters are. 



CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 21 

Your commencement at New Haven must have been very lately. I 
should like very well to be present once more at the exercises of such a day 
and I should be allured much more from motives of curiosity than of instruc- 
tion, provided the President was to deliver another Arabic oration. He 
always excited my affection from the loftiness of his manners and the good- 
ness of his heart, but my admiration used to be carried to a very high pitch 
from my idea of the immensity of his learning and his researches as an 
antiquarian. He has many fanciful notions which I shall not undertake to 
refute, nor to defend. But he is the ornament of the age as a scholar and I 
believe those who are entirely delivered from the pedantry of the schools, 
and whose ideas are enlarged by history and experience, and created by 
just criticism and sound philosophy will still see cause to view him with 
great veneration. I ardently wish that glory and reputation may crown the 
labors of that, our parent university, and that such moderation and caution 
may attend the distribution of academical honors that they may be courted 
with emulation and conferred as a sincere reward. . . . Adieu. Remem- 
ber me and believe that I love you. 

And in the second letter, dated Poug-hkeepsie, September 7, 1787, 
the Chancellor writes : 

Commencement I recollect is at hand, in which you are going to recall 
some of your old sensations and probably embrace some of your old friends. 
Who can tell my wishes that I was to be of the number? The thought 
of that scene awakens most deeply my friendly sentiments. You and one 
or two more recur to me with a tenderness that almost unmans me. I love 
you most sincerely and my breast refutes the system that makes self-love 
the foundation of morals. I feel myself a patron of the doctrine of dis- 
interested affection. My dear friend, may you and I never forget to have 
an ardent friendship as long as we remain worthy of each other — -may we 
never cease to cultivate the heart as the source of all our happiness 
here, and we may make our profession subservient to a most honorable 
ambition and an unlimited benevolence for mankind. 

Yours most affectionately 
Simeon Baldwin, Esq. (Signed) James Kent. 

P. S. This letter is conveyed by Mr. Marsh, by whom I hope for the favor, 
if not inconvenient, of the usual academical publications of Theses, etc. I 
could wish for a catalogue that I may thereby hear of the existence at least 
of my acquaintance. . . . 

It is not diffictdt to find the cause of this abstention from these 
Commencement gatherings, which he yearned so to attend. It was 
the res angusta domi that held him in its inexorable grip. He told 
something of it to Judge Baldwin in a letter of September, 1784, 
(note that this is again a Commencement season), which Judge 
Baldwin quotes in the account of his classmate already referred to.^ 
In that confidential letter to his friend the future Chancellor writes : 

I. Supra, page 14. 



22 CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 

I am yet a poor clerk to an attorney, and all my property is confined to 
my chest; but I have a thirst for knowledge and a determination to put in a 
claim for some of those honors which imprint immortality on characters ; 
and this thirst and this determination, I trust, under Providence, will lead 
forward to some of those good and generous actions, and that sacred integ- 
rity of conduct and principle, which will render me not a dishonorable object 
to the few who love me/ 

Again, nine years later, in October, 1793, he wrote his brother: 

. . . I am very healthy, but my business comes on slowly and living 
is very high. The beef in market is yd., 8d., and gd. a pound, and other 
things in proportion. But the most serious of all our expenses is wood. 
It is now i8s. a load at the wharf, and four loads make a cord. The expense 
of riding, sawing, etc., is about 3.^.; so that every load of nut wood, which 
is the only wood brought here that will burn, costs me 21s. a load. This 
extraordinary dearness of wood is owing partly to the great influx of people 
from the West Indies, etc., but principally because last winter was open, and 
there was no sledding to bring the wood down to the landings up the river. 
I endeavor to keep up my spirits all I can, but low spirits and discourage- 
ments frequently press so hard upon me as to retard my studies. However, 
I will try a year or two yet, and if it will not do here, I must go into the 
woods somewhere, as you have done." 

That this was the true and real reason of his abstention is made 
more clearly manifest from the fact that, as we shall see, for years 
afterwards, when he had become more at ease in his circumstances, 
we shall find that he attended the College Commencements and 
rejoiced in their proceedings with the right and true spirit of the 
most loyal and enthusiastic Yalensian. The manuscript diaries to 
which I have referred contain accounts of these visits to his Alma 
Mater at quite frequent intervals from as early as the year 1813 
almost to the end of his life, the last visit recounted being that to 
the Commencement of 1842, when the Chancellor had been out of 
college sixty-one years and was seventy-nine years of age. Some of 
them we will examine later. But we may pause to say here that the 
tone and spirit of the letters above quoted are indicative of the man 
and of his character. Poverty might deprive him of the gratification 
of 'his dearest wishes, but it could not dismay him. In the midst 
of it he was serenely happy and cheerful as he was in the later days 
of his affluence. It seemed a characteristic of Chancellor Kent 
throuofhout his whole life that difficulties of whatever kind and 



1. Memoirs, p. 17. 

2. Memoirs, p. 54. 



CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 23 

nature, not only did not dismay him, but seemed, on the contrary, 
to incite and encourage him to effort. It seemed as if, instead of 
shrinking before difficulties, he veritably welcomed them, so great 
was his intellectual enjoyment in searching with industrious and 
unerring logic the way by which, of necessity, they must be and 
would be overcome. No labor of research was too great for him, 
if, through it, he could find the weak points in the obstacles that 
opposed him, and by it could arm and fortify himself with the pre- 
cedents and authorities whereby he could overcome them. Another 
trait or characteristic in this connection impresses itself upon the 
reader of Chancellor Kent's work, and that is that he never realized 
or admitted defeat until the last effort had been made. As his 
younger successors in his beloved Alma Mater have sometimes put 
it, he never was beaten until the last ball was pitched ! 

The future Chancellor at this time was living in Poughkeepsie 
and was a clerk in the office of the Hon. Egbert Benson, a distin- 
guished lawyer, and at that time Attorney-General of the State of 
New York.^ He says that he was placed there by his father in 
November, 1781, almost immediately after leaving college. He was 
admitted to the Bar of New York in January, 1785, and in April of 
that year he married Miss Elizabeth Bailey, daughter of Col. John 
Bailey of Poughkeepsie, New York. In his memorandum he says : 

I was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court in January, 1785, at the 
age of twenty-one, and then married, without one cent of property; for my 
education exhausted all my kind father's resources, and left me in debt. $400, 
which took me two or three years to discharge.^ 

On the I2th of April, 1785, he entered into partnership with 

1. Chancellor Kent in a valuable historical address which he delivered 
before the New York Historical Society, on the occasion of his election as 
the fifth President of that society, December 6, 1828, has this to say of 
Judge Benson : 

"Egbert Benson rendered eminent service to this state (New York) 
through the whole period of the American War. He was zealous, firm, 
active and extremely useful from the very beginning of the contest. In 1777 
he was appointed Attorney General, and in that office, in the Legislature, 
and in Congress, his devotion to the public interest was unremitted. The 
value of his services as a member of the Legislature throughout the war 
was beyond all price, and in the able, constant, accurate and faithful dis- 
charge of the duties of that station he has scarcely an equal in the legislative 
annals of the state." 

2. Memoirs, p. 22. 



24 CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 

Gilbert Livingston, Esq., of Poughkeepsie, and remained in this 
connection until he moved to the City of New York, April 27, 1793.^ 

I. In the Kent Manuscripts, Vol. Ill, above referred to, page 6, note, 
is found the following Chronological Memoranda in the handwriting of the 
Chancellor: 

1763 — July 31 — I was born at Fredericksburgh in Dutchess County. 

1772 — July 28 — Begun to study Cordery in Latin and English at my Uncle 

Kane's. 
1773 — May — Went to a Latin School at Danbury under the tuition of the 

Revd. Ebenezer Baldwin. 
1777 — July & August studied at Newtown with the Revd. Ebenezer White. 

Sept. — Entd. Yale College. 
1781 — September, took my Bachelor's Degree. 

Nov. loth, entered as clerk to Mr. Benson at Poughkeepsie. 
1785 — Jany. — Admitted an Atty. of the Sup. Court at Albany. 

April 3d. — Married Miss Elizabeth Bailey. 

I2th — Entered into partnership with G. Livingston. 
1786 — Oct. loth — Begun housekeeping at Poughkeepsie. 
1787 — April — -Admitted a Counsellor in the Sup. Court. 
1789 — Oct. 23rd. — My brother Moss left my house where he had lived for 

three years. 
1790 — April — Elected a Member of Assembly for D. County. 
1791 — March 2Sth — My daughter Elizabeth born. 
1792— April — Elected again a Member of Assembly. 
1793 — Jany. — I was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress. 

April I2th — Dissolved my partnership with G. L. 

27th — Removed to N. York. 

May 26th — My daughter died. 

Dec. 24th — Elected a Professor of Law in Columbia College. 
1794 — Feby. 4th — My father died. 

March i8th — Admitted Sol. & Counsel in Chancery. 

April 5th — Admitted Counsel in Circuit Court of U. S. 
1796 — Feby. ist — Appointed a Master in Chancery. 

i6th — My second daughter Betsy born. 

April — elected a Member of Assembly for N. York. 

Elected a Trustee of the N. York Library. 

1797 — March 28th — Appointed Recorder of N. York. 

May — Elected a Governor of the Hospital. 
1798 — Feby. 6th — Appointed a Judge of the Sup. Court. 

April 7th — Removed from N. York to Poughkeepsie. 
1799 — Oct. 31st — Removed from Poughkeepsie to Albany. 
1804 — 2nd July — Appointed Chief Justice. 
1814 — Feby. — Chancellor. 

[May, 1794 had a degree of LL.D. in Columbia College, N. Y. 

In 181 1 or 1812 do. in Harvard University. 

In 1819 do. in Dartmouth College.] 



CHANCELLOR KENT AT VALE 25 

That his married Ufe was an extremely happy one and that his 
wife, through all the long years of their association, exerted a most 
happy influence upon his life and character, shines through all he 
writes. The "Kent Manuscripts" contain a number of letters between 
the husband and wife, which abundantly illustrate this fact, but I 
will quote but two as typical of them all. On Monday, September 
17, 1804, the future Chancellor, then Chief Justice of the Supreme 
Court, residing in Albany, wrote to his wife, who was visiting her 
parents in Poughkeepsie, in part as follows : 

Dear Betsy : 

I did not intend to have written to you so soon for fear you would be 
too highly elated and flattered by such marked attention from so great a 
man as myself. But I must run the risk of spoiling you for the pleasure of 
the letter. . . . Bess [their little daughter] sticks close to me and walks 
out with me in all my walks. . . . It is glorious times to study here ! — 
no noise, no intrusive wife, no rattling Will, no call for market. A piece 
of canned beef got on Saturday will last some days yet. . . . It is possi- 
ble I may get a whim in my head by the beginning of next week to jump 
aboard a sloop with Bess and come down. My love to your parents and 
sister. Yours truly, 

(Signed) J. Kent.^ 

On Saturday evening, September 22nd, Mrs. Kent replied as 
follows : 

Dear Husband: — • 

With all your imperfections on your head I love you and long most 
ardently to see you. To tell the truth I grow quite homesick and hardly 
know how I shall spend all next week here. This place is very pleasant, but 
all its charms to me are fled. Take away my family and friends and I should 
scarcely ever wish to see it again. . . . The truth is the gentleman I 
have the infinite satisfaction of calling my husband will give a zest to any 
place, or it will have none for me if he is not there. You will perceive I do 
not lose all recollection of you in my absence. Your image grows brighter 
every day on my imagination. I fancy I see you sitting this evening in your 
solitary office shivering with cold with dear little Bess lying on the chairs 
waiting for you to go to bed, while you are turning over your unfinished 
pages. My dear, blessed little daughter, I am afraid she is lonesome and 
unhappy. ... I had the honour of receiving your short agreeable letter 
of Monday last and should have been very glad to have received another 

1823 — July 31 — Retired from the office of Chancellor, being that day sixty 
years of age. 

Oct. 29th — Removed from Albany to the City of N. Y. 

Nov. — Reappointed Professor of Law in Columbia College. 

I. Kent Manuscripts, Vol. III. 



26 CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 

this evening, though I suppose you think that would be giving me too much 
pleasure in one week. . . . Your lovely little boy is very well and is 
highly delighted. He goes with his grandpa to the barn and in the garden 
and if possible is sweeter than ever. I think very often of my dear little 
Bess. I almost regret I did not bring her along. I know her pa will do all 
he can to make her happy. A week will soon pass away and she will have 
her mother back again. I hope Peggy gives you comfortable meals. Be 
patient, my darling husband. Though we laugh and talk a great deal, there 
is not a human being values you half as much as your devoted wife, 

(Signed) E. K.* 

Chancellor Kent was of particularly agreeable personal appear- 
ance. The frontispiece shows him as a youth of twenty-five dur- 
ing the struggles of his early life at the Bar. This portrait was 
done by Sharpless in pastel and has never before been reproduced, 
and we arc indebted to the kindness of the owner of the original, 
Mr. William Kent of Tuxedo Park, for the privilege of being able 
to reproduce it here." Another portrait of Chancellor Kent was 
made by Rembrandt Peel in 1843 when the Chancellor was eighty 
years of age. It is in the possession of Mr. William Kent of Tux- 
edo Park, and a reproduction of it forms a frontispiece of his 
"Memoirs." A portrait painted by John W. Jarvis is owned by 
Yale. A fine bronze statue of the Chancellor stands in the gallery 

1. Kent Manuscripts, Vol. III. 

2. James Sharpless, artist, was born in England about 1751, and died in 
New York City February 26, 181 1. He was intended for the priesthood, 
but studied art. He came to this country in 1786 and resided here almost 
constantly thereafter. He is buried in the church yard of St. Peter's Church 
in Barclay Street, New York City. He made portraits in pastel of many of 
the leading men of the time, including General Washington, John Adams, 
Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, Anthony Wayne, Horatio Gates, James 
Wilkinson, James Clinton, De Witt Clinton, Chancellor Livingston, Aaron 
Burr, Alexander Hamilton and Chancellor Kent. It is said that after finish- 
ing a portrait Sharpless usually made another of the same subject either 
as a replica or otherwise, and that these second portraits he kept as a per- 
sonal collection of his own. It seems that a portion of this personal col- 
lection, including the portraits above mentioned, came into the hands of a 
gentleman of Virginia, probably as security for a loan made to Sharpless' 
widow, and became scattered during the Civil War. Some forty of them, 
including those above mentioned, were exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition 
in Philadelphia in 1876, and these were purchased for the National Museum in 
Independence Hall. The portrait of Chancellor Kent in this collection is not 
by any means a replica or copy of the frontispiece. It is undoubtedly a 
portrait of the Chancellor, but manifestly made at a later period of his life, 
and the clothes and the method of cutting the hair are altogether different. 



CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 27 

of the central reading-room or rotunda of the Library of Con- 
gress at Washington. The statue is a very effective one, and a cut 
of it may be found in Harper's Weekly for August i, 1896 (Vol. 4O; 
P- 752).' 

But we have already digressed too far and wc must return now 
to our particular business, which is the relation of this great man 
to Yale. The Whole of the Phi Beta Kappa oration will form 
absorbingly interesting reading for any Yale man, but space pre- 
vents our giving it all as we should like to do. We must leave it now 
with the Chancellor's concluding words, with which he ended this 
brilliant achievement : 

Within the last half century this college has partaken largely of the 
general impulse communicated to society. It has made rapid advances in 
the number of its pupils, in the elevation of the standard of admission, in 
the enlargement of the limits of collegiate learning, and in accommodating its 
course of instruction to the wants and wishes of the age, and to the methods 
and spirit of the sciences of the present day. The amount of graduates, 
since the commencement of this century, almost equals the number that 
received a collegiate degree during the whole course of that which preceded 
it. History, antiquities and political economy are now academically taught. 
Chemistry, mineralogy and geology were utterly unknown, within college 
walls, half a century ago. They are now regarded as sciences of great prac- 
tical utility, and, under the guidance of genius, erudition and taste, they are 
cultivated with enthusiastic ardor and astonishing success. The progress of 
science generally within the time of memory is almost incalculable, and it 
seems to leave in comparative insignificance, the accumulated knowledge of 
past ages. We can estimate the space that has been gained by the flood, by 
looking upon those neglected marks, — those old and stubborn intellectual 
monuments, which remained stationary, in proud solitude, while the current 
swept forward on its course. It is the tendency of the general 
dififusion of knowledge, and of the inquisitive, restless, and business character 
of the age, to elevate the importance of that mechanical philosophy, and of 

I. There are sixteen of these bronze figures in this gallery and they 
form a very dignified and impressive feature of the ornamental scheme. 
They are as follows : 
Representing 

Religion^ Moses and St. Paul ; 

Commerce — Columbus and Robert Fulton ; 

History — Herodotus and Gibbon ; 

Art — Michael Angelo and Beethoven; 

Philosophy — Plato and Lord Bacon; 

Science — Newton and Henry; 

Poetry — Homer and Shakespeare ; 

Law — Solon and Chancellor Kent. 



2 8 . CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 

those practical sciences, which gratify with the greatest celerity, and in the 
greatest abundance, our coarser wants and comforts. But we may rest 
assured that the efficacy and value of intellectual pursuits increases in a much 
greater proportion. Artificial distinctions and exclusive privileges are grad- 
ually losing their hold on society, by the operation of the knowledge and 
spirit of the times. The masses of free and enlightened human beings are 
constantly enlarging, and they all lie under the dominion of moral force, 
and are capable of being swayed by argument and eloquence flowing from 
intellects of superior cultivation. Knowledge and virtue are the rightful 
directors of human action, and they arc a result of a liberal and vigorous 
system of public education. 

It must be the wisli of all the true sons of this venerable university, that 
it may fulfill its high purpose, and continue to flourish in health and vigor, 
with expanding views, and increasing luster, down to the latest posterity. 

There is published with the oration a note of the Chancellor's 
upon his college class and other college mates, then both living and 
dead, which, because of the distinction of the author and of those 
it catalogues, ought not to be omitted. It is as follows : 

Of my college class, which graduated in 1781, and consisted of twenty- 
five, there are twelve still living in good health, and eight of them attended 
this commencement. Of those eight persons, four had not until then, seen 
each other for fifty j^ears. Of the students who were in college during the 
whole or some part of the period in which I was there, and who in after life 
attained distinguished public honors by their talents and learning, and are 
now dead, may be selected 

Joel Barlow, the author of the "Vision of Columbus," and American 
Minister in Europe. 

Stephen Jacob, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Vermont. 

Josiah Meigs, President of the University of Georgia. 

Asher Miller, a Judge of the Superior Court of Connecticut. 

Noah Smith, a Judge of the Supreme Court of Vermont. 

Zephaniah Swift, author of a Digest of the Laws of Connecticut, and 
Chief Justice of that state. 

Uriah Tracy, Senator in Congress from Connecticut. 

Mason Fitch Cogswell, President of the Medical Society of Connecticut. 

Roger Griswold, Governor of the State of Connecticut. 

Daniel Farrand, a Judge of the Supreme Court of Vermont. 

Israel Smith, Governor of the State of Vermont. 

John Lovett, Member of Congress from New York. 

Samuel Austin, President of the University of Vermont. 

Josiah Masters, Member of Congress from New York. 

Jedediah Morse, author of the American Geography. 

George Bliss, a distinguished Jurist and first Judge of the County of 
Hampden in Massachusetts. 

Among the scholars embraced in the period I have mentioned, and still 



CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 29 

living, and who have been selected to high public trusts, or been pre- 
eminently distinguished for their literary productions, are the names of 

Ezekiel Gilbert, Member of Congress. 

Ebenezer Sage, Member of Congress. 

Noah Webster, author of the American Dictionary. 

Oliver Wolcott, Secretary of the Treasury of U. S. ; a Judge, and Gov- 
ernor of Connecticut. 

Jonathan Brace, Member of Congress. 

Elizur Goodrich, Member of Congress and Professor of Law. 

Jonathan Ogden Aloseley, Member of Congress. 

Simeon Baldwin, Member of Congress and Judge of the Superior Court 
of Connecticut.' 

Stephen Titus Hosmer, Chief Justice of the Sup. Court of Connecticut. 

Asher Robbins, Senator in Congress. 

Lewis Burr Sturges, Member of Congress. 

David Daggett, Senator in Congress, Judge of the Sup. Court of Con- 
necticut, Professor of Law.^ 

Abiel Holmes, author of American Annals. 

John Cotton Smith, Member of Congress, Judge of the Sup. Court of 
Connecticut, Governor of that State, President of the Board of Foreign 
Missions. 

Ray Greene, Senator in Congress. 

The college, and even the State and nation, have reason to be proud of 
such a roll of illustrious names. The individuals were nurtured amidst the 
excitements and tumult of the American war. There were other scholars 
educated within that period, who proved to be men of sound learning and 
sterling worth, without having attracted attention by their ardent ambition 
or proud elevation. They have been contented to pass down the stream of 
life in a gentle current, without noise or eclat. But in the various walks 
of private life, and in the discharge of the more quiet duties of profes- 
sional emploj'ment, or as humble and devoted ministers of the gospel, they 
have been of great utility, and the source of inestimable blessings diffused 
around the sphere in which they have moved. 

In the "Kent Manuscripts"^ the Chancellor gives a journal of his 

1. Supra, p. 8. 

2. Judge Daggett — United States Senator 1813-1819; Chief Justice of the 
Supreme Court of Connecticut 1832, and First Kent Professor of Law at 
Yale 1826-1848. He was the great-grandfather of Mr. David Daggett (Yale 
1879), one of the most highly esteemed citizens of New Haven, and the 
genial, beloved and efficient presiding genius of the Graduates' Club. A 
Historj'/of the/Class of Seventy-nine/Yale College/During the thirty years 
from its admission/into the Academic Department/i875-i905/by its secre- 
tary/F. W. Williams/Published for the class/1906/The University Press, 
Cambridge, U. S. A. 

3. Kent Manuscripts, Journal No. 10 — 1829-31. 



30 CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 

"Excursion to New Haven" for the purpose of attending the semi- 
centenary of the graduation of his class, and this I also feel to be so 
interesting and enlightening that it can in no manner be omitted from 
this paper, and it therefore follows in full : 

Monday, September 12, 183 1, I left the dock at the foot of Maiden Lane 
in N. York in the steam-boat Hudson, Captain Beecher for New Haven at 
12 o'clock noon. It was a cool, pleasant day. Young Franklin Miller went 
with me, and I found on Board Mrs. Dodge (widow), Isaac Lawrence, Esq., 
Mr. Mix of New Haven, young Dwight, M. Joaquin Morqueva, the Colom- 
bian President, & a great crowd. I arrived at New Haven at dusk & went 
up to Professor Silliman's, where I had been invited to stay. 

Tuesday, September 13th. A fine day. I arose early and walked around 
the Town and it appeared enchanting. It is a large and elegantly built 
Town in large Squares and adorned with thick and lofty trees, being elms 
and sycamores. It is rus in urbe. 

At II a.m. I attended the meeting of the Ph. B. K. in the 3d story of the 
old chapel. R. M. Sherman, Esq., was President. There I saw Ed. Everett 
and a crowd of the civilians and clergy and Professors. The question 
was on abolishing the secrets of the Society. Professor Silliman, Doctor 
Ives, Revd. Mr. Robbins, the Revd. Mr. Bacon of the ist Presbyterian Con- 
gregation & Judge Daggett spoke. The rule of secrecy was abolished with 
acclamation. We then marched in procession to the North Church on the 
Green which I found full of Ladies and Gentlemen. The President of the 
Society and the chaplain and I ascended the pulpit and after a short prayer 
I delivered my address. It consumed an hour and 12 minutes. We then 
went and dined at the Franklin House which is a superb Establishment. We 
then went to the College Lyceum and there was a large and general meet- 
ing of the Alumni of Yale College and I presided. The object was upon 
raising $100,000 by subscription, the sums payable in 4 annual instalments, 
the first to be paid on I. Jan'y- 1832. President Day, Professor Silliman, the 
Minister of the 1st Congregation, Mr. Pilkin, Lucius C. Duncan, Esq. of 
N. Orleans, La., spoke. [I subscribed $400.] 

Wed. Sep. 14th. I took my early morning walk around Town. I attended 
commencement and sat on the stage with the dignitaries in the Forenoon and 
then I dined at Judge Baldwin's with my old classmates. There were eight 
of us who dined together, viz : Baldwin, Boardman, Huntley, Kent, Noyes, 
Stebbins, Tomlinson, Wells. Channing, Isaacs, Williams and Wright were 
absent but alive and in health. Judge Baldwin read us an excellent letter 
from Wright who lives in the state of Ohio in the N. East part in a flourish- 
ing Country, and he is very richly and neatly settled. He writes like a very 
pious man. . . . 

That evening I was at a Party at President Day's and there was another 
at Professor Silliman's. There I saw the Revd. Mr. Stewart, the Naval 
Chaplain, and conversed with Joaquin Morqueva and with the Revd. Mr. 
Bacon of the ist Congregation, who is a very fine mercurial little fellow. The 
Revd. Mr. James Noyce of Wallingford lodged with me. I was introduced 



CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 31 

to Gov. Peters, Lieut. Gov. Fairchild, Judge Boardnian and a great many 
Reverend Divines, and I became quite familiar with Professor Everett. 

Thursday, Sep. 15th. I visited Judge Daggett, Mrs. Tucker, old Mr. 
Hillhouse who resides with his son in an elegant seat; & Mr. Silliman 
took Professor Everett & me over the Bridge to East Haven, and showed 
us geological detritus & fine views and Fair Haven full of Oyster Beds. 

I entered on Board the Steam Boat Superior at i P.M. It was crowded 
with near 400 passengers & it rained. There were visitors and scholars 
returning from Commencement. There were the Patrone' and his children, 
Prof. Everett, Prcs. Whcland, Prof. Westerle, Franklin Miller, Zacharias 
Lewis, Isaac Lawrence, Major Hoops, young Mrs. Dwight. We arrived 
after dark. 

Total of my Expenses $7. 



I. Undoubtedly either the Hon. Stephen Van Rensselaer III (1764-1839) 
or his son. General Stephen Van Rensselaer IV (1789-1868). Both were 
successively known as Patroon of Rensselaerwick. The former, it will be 
noted, was just one year younger than the Chancellor. He was graduated 
at Harvard in 1782, just one year after the Chancellor's graduation at Yale. 
He, however, was one of the contributors to the fund raised in 1822 for the 
establishment of the Dwight Professorship (Baldwin's History of Yale Col- 
lege, (1831) p. 316. For the grant creating the Patroons of the New Nether- 
lands, July 19, 1640, see New York Colonial Manuscripts, Vol. I, p. 119. 
Original in the Royal Archives at the Hague. File West Indie. 



II 



WE have seen in the March number of the Journal with 
what simple and genuine enthusiasm the great Chancellor 
wrote of his visit to New Haven on the occasion of the 
fiftieth anniversary reunion of his class in 1831. On this occasion he 
delivered the now celebrated Phi Beta Kappa oration in the Old 
North Church, as appears from the illustration of the New Haven 
"green" of that day, and the Chancellor's manuscript note 
regarding it. In commenting further upon this visit the 
distinguished orator in his diary records that "the excite- 
ment of writing and delivering my oration rendered this Commence- 
ment, and the two or three weeks in anticipation of it, deeply inter- 
esting." He then proceeds to add some notes about some of the 
friends he met, about the old New Haven cemetery, and about his 
college room and college room-mates, which are full of interest to 
the Yale man of to-day.^ 

1. Supra, pages 30-31. 

2. "The Revd. Mr. Robbins of Stratford is a public spirited man & 
a great antiquarian in New-England History & a collector of its historical 
documents & sermons. 

"Mr. Augur is a self-taught Sculptor, & his marble specimens of Jeptha 
& her daughter are admirable. The Revd. Mr. Bacon is one of the most 
animated and spirited of the public speakers. 

"I was treated with great hospitality & kindness by Mr. & Mrs. Silli- 
man. Their eldest daughter is on the eve of marriage with Mr. Church of 
Alleghany. Their 2d daughter is a rosy, lovely girl named Faith. 

"I saw (& he returned with me in the Steam Boat to N. York) Wm. 
A. Thompson of Thompson in Sullivan County. He was a class-mate with 
the Revd. James Noyes who lodged with me at Mr. Silliman's. He has been 
for 2 or 3 years in England, & is a gentleman of 65 & of the look of a gen- 
erous & hearty English-gentleman. 

"The Cemetery is much enlarged, & the number & taste & splendor of 
the sepulchral monuments attracts reverence & thrilling interest. The Patrone 



34 CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 

But this, as we have seen, and as the Chancellor intimates, was 
by no means his only journey to New Haven for such a purpose 
of which he has left us an account. In 1813, when 50 years of age 
and 32 years out of college his diary tells of a trip in the following 
words : 

Tuesday, Aug. 24. We arrived at New Haven by 11 o'clock. It was 
extremely dusty and hot as we passed the E. end of the West Rock and 
entered on the sandy plains of N. Haven. We stayed and lodged at Og- 
den's on the S. side of the green, and here I enjoyed for the better part of 
two days the luxury of retracing the footsteps and recalling the images of 
the years of my collegiate life. Here I had passed 4 years of innocence and 
simplicity and sanguine hopes of youth, and I eagerly dwelt with fond and 
tender and melancholy recollection on every spot consecrated by my youthful 
sports and tread. I zvas chastened into sober reflections under the consid- 
eration that it was thirty-two years since I left those delightful abodes of 
the Muses, and that more than a zvhole generation and the best part of my 
life had in the interval passed away. My old classmates, Baldwin & Perkins 
went with me to prayers in the chapel and I visited Dr. Dwight and the 
magnificent collection of stones and minerals presented by Col. Gibbs and 
superintended by Professor Silliman. With Mr. Daggett we visited Whit- 
ney's gun factory under the E. Rock, and I visited the cemetery so cele- 
brated by the novelty and elegance of its arrangement. We also called on 
Mr. Goodrich, Mr. Woolsey, &c., and left the town in the afternoon of Wed- 
nesday, August 25th, with the highest respect for its literary institutions and 
the interesting character of the several gentlemen who had favored us with 
their attentions.' 

What could be more beautifully and sweetly appreciative and 
loyal than these words ! Ah " those delightful abodes of the 
Muses ! " What one of us does not cherish those very sentiments 
to-day ! 

Again, in 1817, he tells us: 

Wednesday, July 9th, 1817. I left N. York at 7 o'clock a. m. in the 
Steamboat Connecticut (Captain Bunker) in company with my brother and 
my daughter Eliza and Miss Henshaw, and we arrived at New Haven about 
dusk. The day was cool with a N. W. wind and we had a remarkably pleas- 
ant sail up the Sound. We lodged at Butler's hotel. 

was with me when I ascended & visited the Room in the 4th Story in the 
College in which I resided with my Room Mates Noyes & Wright the last 
two years of my collegiate life. 

"My Room Mates when I was Sophomore were Isaacs & Tomlinson, & 
when I was Senior they were Noyes & Wright, & they are all alive." (Kent 
Manuscripts, Journal No. 10, 1829-31.) 

I. Kent Manuscripts, Journal 1803- 1816. 



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CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 35 

Thursday, July roth. We rambled about N. Haven, visited the ceme- 
tery and ascended the steeple of one of the new churches, and visited the 
mineralogical collection in college, and drank tea at Judge Baldwin's in com- 
pany with President Day, Professor Silliman, Mr. Daggett, Mr. McCracken, 
etc. The town was clean and quiet and the rows of elms and huttonzvood 
and the three new Churches, rendered the avenues exceedingly beautiful. 

Friday, July nth. I parted with my Friends at N. Haven and rode to 
Hartford by the way of Middletown in company with Mr. and Mrs. Pierpont 
of Brooklyn.^ 

Again in 1824, when in his .sixty-first year, and forty-three years 
after the grackiation of his class, the Chancellor once more attended 
the commencement, wc have his memorandum of his visit in the 
following words : 

Tuesday, September 7, 1824. I sailed in the Steam Boat U. States 
(Captain Beecher) to New Haven. We started at 8 o'clock a. m. Prof. 
Nott, the Patrone,^ Dr. Smith of Brunswick and his wife, Prof. Silliman, 
Mr. Boardman of N. H., and I were on board. It rained all the latter part 
of the day. We kept near the Connecticut coast and I saw all the farms, 
(Greenwich, Stamford, Norwalk, Fairfield, &c.) as we passed. We arrived 
about 5 p. m. and landed at the end of the long wharf in the rain. I lodged 
with my friend, S. Baldwin, Esq. 

Wed., Sep. 8th. A steady rainy day. The bells all rang at sunrise, it 
being Commencement day, and I admired the melody of the sounds. I walk- 
ed before breakfast over the cemetery and read many of the inscriptions on 
the marble monuments in that solemn, picturesque and highly decorated 
Land of Silence. After breakfast I called on Governor Walcott and went 
to the College Lyceum, and joined the procession to the church and attended 
all the Exercises of the day amid a crowded and gay audience. The stage 
where I sat was crowded with academical dignitaries. There were Presi- 
dent Davis of Hamilton College, President Griffin of Williams Town, Presi- 
dent of Dartmouth, Dr. Stewart, Professor of Theology at An- 

dover, etc. I was particularly pleased with the music in the gallery and 
with the valedictory oration of Mr. Hall. And I walked through the old 
college where I lived in 1780. I drank Tea at Mr. J. Hillhouse's and em- 
barked on board the Steam Boat at 7 p. m. and was back to New York on 
Thursday, Sep. pth.^ 

Six years later, in 1830, the Chancellor again attended com- 
mencement, and of this he says : 

Tuesday at 5 p. m., Sep. 7, 1830, I went on board the Steam Boat Hud- 
son (Captain Sanford) and I had a beautiful sail up the East River. By 
dusk we were at Throg's Neck. We raced up the East River with the 
Steam Boat Flushing. The weather was very hot and lightning and clouds 

1. Kent Manuscripts, Journal 1817-1820. 

2. See Part I of this paper, page 31, note. 

3. Kent Manuscripts, Journal 1821-1824. 



36 CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 

to the S. We had passed the lighthouse at Sand's Point before we went to 
bed. Mr. Townsend of the printing firm of Dwight, T. & Walker, was on 
board. I had a very oppressively hot berth in the cabin and it rained hard 
all night. When I left home the weather was bright. I left my brother and 
N. Howell, Esq., at my house. We arrived at the dock in New Haven by 
2 o'clock in the night. 

Wednesday, September 8th. I arose by sunrise. It still rained, and I 
went up in a coach to Bulford's Inn. It is an old house which stood when 
I was at College in 1780. It stands across the creek E. of the Head of the 
Long Wharf. Here I got breakfast, and called on Judge Baldwin and Judge 
Daggett and walked in procession to the church at 9 o'clock under the pro- 
tection of Professor Silliman. I was honored with a seat on the stage 
aside of Judge Daggett. I heard 10 orations, i dialogue, and one dramatic 
composition of the tragic kind in five acts. The forenoon Exercises lasted 
until half after one. I dined in College Hall with the faculty and Corpora- 
tion and sat adjoining President Day, Governor Tomlinson, Lieut. Gov. 
Peters, Bishop Brownell, etc. I visited the old College where I roomed 
and walked around it and recalled ancient recollections. The middle of the 
day was pleasant and the assemblage of gentlemen large and selected, and I 
was cheered and delighted. I visited in the forenoon Professor Silliman, 
walked with my classmate Stebbins. Drank tea at Judge Baldwin's and 
reimbarked on board of same Steam Boat at 8 p. m. in the rain attended 
with sharp lightning, and after a very disagreeable night (for it rained Tor- 
rents) in a hot crowded cabin I arrived at New York dock before day and 
was home at sunrise much invigorated in Health and Spirits by my fatiguing 
tour. The whole expense did not exceed $5.42} 

What son of Yale to-day could say more as to the invigoration 
brought to " health and spirits " by a visit to commencement than 
did this fine old man ! And what one of them could get through 
so pleasantly on $5.42! 

Of the great anniversary of 183 1 we have already learned; and, 
although we have no detailed account of the Chancellor's visit to 
the college in the next year, 1832, it is evident that he was there 
from his own manuscript note appended to the picture of West 
Rock, which will be found facing page 52. The Chan- 
cellor climbed West Rock for the first time when a Freshman in 
college in 1778, and he climbed it again fifty-four years later, when 
in the seventieth year of his age. What one of us would not be 
proud to do the same ! 

Nor was even this his last visit. Again ten years later, in 1842, 
when the distinguished graduate had attained the eightieth year of 
his age, we find him again at the commencement — the sixty-first 
anniversary of the graduation of his class ! And of this, which he 

I. Kent Manuscripts, Journal 1829-1833. 



CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 37 

terms " a delightful visit and full of charming reminiscences," he 
gives us the following account : 

Tuesday, Aug. 16, 1842. At 6 a. m. I went on board the Steam Boat 
New York (Captain Hinman) for New Haven. Mr. Ch. Chauncey, Mr. 
Heister, President of the Senate of Pennsylvania, etc., were on board. We 
arrived before 12 o'clock and I dined and lodged with my classmate, the 
Hon. Simeon Baldwin. I called and drank tea with Mr. Noah Webster, 
who looked hale and sound. I saw Mr. Goodrich, who was a tutor when I 
was in college. I attended a gay evening party at the house of R. S. Baldwin, 
Esq. Very warm day. New Haven looked gloriously with its avenues of 
elms. We rode in the afternoon all around the City and admired the beau- 
tiful streets and buildings denoting wealth and Taste. 

Wed. 17th. I attended a great and most respectable meeting of the 
Alumni of Yale College in the Philosophical Hall and presided as Chairman. 
We then walked in procession to the N. Brick Church where I ascended the 
pulpit and presided as chairman. Prof. Silliman delivered an oration on the 
History of New Haven and the College and their progressive improvement. 
I dined with Mrs. Salisbury where I met Mr. Chauncey, Prof. Woolsey, 
who married the daughter of Mrs. S., the Revd. Cortlandt Van Rensselaer, 
Professor Silliman and Judge Sherman. I called on my wife's niece, Cath. 
Woolsey, and Mrs. Silliman, and attended a splendid evg. party at Mrs. 
Street's where Judge Baldwin went with me, and here I saw the Misses 
Gerry, [ ?] Mr. Skinner and his very pretty wife (once Miss Whitney), Mrs. 
R. S. Baldwin (the daughter of my classmate Perkins), and here I met 
Mr. Th. Dunlap of Philadelphia and of the United States Bank, and several 
other gentlemen. Very warm day. 

Thursday, i8th. Very warm day. My classmate Baldwin and I went 
to the college at 8 a. m. and joined the procession of the College faculty 
and Students, etc., to the W. meeting house and I heard part of the morn- 
ing exercises and speeches of the seniors, and then withdrew and left N. 
Haven at i p. m. on my return to N. York, where I returned before sun- 
down. A delightful visit and full of charming reminiscences. I was ex- 
ceedingly well and active, and far more so than my contemporaries. 
Total of expenses of the excursion $6.44.^ 

This v^as within six years of the Chancellor's death. He died at 
his home in New York City, Dec. 12, 1847, in the eighty-fifth year 
of his age. 

Who was this simple and unassuming gentleman who year after 
year was going back to meet his friends and class-mates under 
the elms of his beloved alma mater in this quiet and genial man- 
ner, keeping an account of expenditures, which it would be well 
for us amid the extravagant tendencies of the present day to pause 
and consider? During all this time, while he had been indulging 
in and enjoying these wholesome associations of his college days, 

I. Kent Manuscripts, Journal 1842-47. 



38 CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 

he had been steadily ascending to the highest pinnacle of an enduring 
fame. He had impressed his learning and his judgment upon the 
jurisprudence of his country and of the world, both upon the com- 
mon law and the equity side, as perhaps no other man ever has. 
By his plain, plodding and highly instructed industry he had reduced 
to system and order our administration of the common law, and 
he had laid deep and everlasting the foundations upon which have 
been built up the great, merciful and life-giving system of American 
equity jurisprudence ; and he had at the same time given to the world 
a statement of and a commentary upon American law which had 
already challenged the admiration of men not only in his own 
country but the world over, and which has since become daily more 
and more recognized as an immortal monument. 

As we have seen. Chancellor Kent had been appointed an Asso- 
ciate Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York on 
February 6, 1798, when of the age of only thirty-five years.^ From 
that time, for more than 25 years, until July 31, 1823, he continued 
his distinguished service upon the Bench. In 1804, he was pro- 
moted to the position of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,^ and 
ten years later, in 181 4, he was appointed Chancellor, a station which 
Chancellor Walworth afterwards said was " at the head of the 
Judiciary of the State,^ and continued in that high ofBce for nine 
years until in 1823, when as we already know, having reached the 
age of sixty years, he was, by operation of the then existing con- 
stitution of the State, compelled to lay down the duties he had 
performed so well.* 

One incident of Judge Kent's promotion to the Chief Justice- 
ship of the Supreme Court is well worth dwelling upon. The 
vacancy in the Chief Justiceship was created by the nomination 
of the Chief Justice himself, the Honorable Morgan Lewis, to the 
office of Governor of the State. Justice Lewis was the nominee 
of the anti-Federalist party. Political passions were running high 
in the year 1804, and both parties were putting forth their best 
efforts to carry this election. Judge Lewis was himself a strong 
anti-Federalist while Judge Kent was a Federalist of a very ardent 

1. Supra, ■pa.gQ 24, note. 

2. Supra, page 24, note. 

3. 7 Paige's Chancery Reports, address of Chancellor Walworth at 
the beginning of the Volume. 

4. Constilution of the State of New York, adopted 1821, ratified by 
the people, January 17, 1822. Article V. Section 3. 



CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 39 

kind. The story is that on the eve of the election these two gentle- 
men met and fell into a discussion of the probable result of the 
election. In the course of the conversation Lewis said to Kent: 
"Judge Kent, if you will vote for me I will make you Chief Justice 
if I am elected Governor," to which Kent, recognizing, of course, 
the true spirit of the remark, promptly replied, " No, sir, personally 
I admire and respect your character and attainments ; but I utterly 
detest your political principles ! " Judge Lewis was elected, and 
one of his first acts as Governor was the appointment of Judge 
Kent to be Chief Justice.^ Would that more of this spirit in 
judicial appointments by the Executive might be abroad among us 
at this time ! 

Of his work upon the Bench of the Supreme Court Judge Kent 
himself has given us an account from which the following is an 
extract : 

In February, 1798, I was offered by Governor Jay, and accepted, the of- 
fice of youngest judge of the Supreme Court. This was the summit of my 
ambition. My object was to return back to Poughkeepsie and resume my 
studies and ride the circuits and inhale country air and enjoy otium cum 
dignitate. I never dreamed of volumes of reports and written opinions. 
Such things were not then thought of. I retired back to Poughkeepsie, in 
the spring of 1798, and in that summer rode all over the western wilderness 
and was delighted. I returned home and began my Greek, and Latin, and 
French, and English, and law classics as formerly, and made wonderful 
progress in books that year. In 1799 I was obliged to remove to Albany in 
order that I might not be too much from home, and there I remained sta- 
tionary for twenty-four years. 

When I came to the Bench there were no reports or State precedents. 
The opinions from the Bench were delivered ore teniis. We had no law 
of our own, and nobody knew what it was. I first introduced a thorough 
examination of cases and written opinions. In January, T. 1799, the second 
case reported in first Johnson's cases, of Ludlow v. Dale, is a sample of the 
earliest. The judges, when we met, all assumed that foreign sentences were 
only good prima facie. I presented and read my written opinion that they 
were conclusive, and they all gave up to me, and so I read it in court as it 
stands. This was the commencement of a new plan, and then was laid 
the first stone in the subsequently erected temple of our jurisprudence. 

Between that time and 1804 I rode my share of circuits, attended all 
the terms, and was never absent, and was always ready in every case by 
the day. I read in that time Valin and Emerigon, and completely abridged 
the latter, and made copious digests of all the English new reports and 
treatises as they came out. I made much use of the Corpus Juris and as the 
judges (Livingston excepted) knew nothing of French or civil law, I had 

I. Memoirs, p. 121. 



40 CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 

immense advantage over them. I could generally put my Brethren to rout 
and carry my point by my mysterious wand of French and civil law. The 
judges were Republicans and very kindly disposed to everything that was 
French, and this enabled me, without exciting any alarm or jealousy, to 
make free use of such authorities and thereby enrich our commercial law. 
* * * * Many of the cases decided during the sixteen years I was in 
the Supreme Court were labored by me most unmercifully, but it was neces- 
sary under the circumstances, in order to subdue opposition.' 

That this rather amusing sketch presents not an unfair estimate 
of the real condition of the Supreme Court at the time is not now- 
lacking of ample corroboration. The Honorable John Duer in an 
address upon the life, character and public services of Chancellor 
Kent, has this to say of the condition of the Supreme Court at 
the time in question : "The condition of the Supreme Court at the 
time of his [Judge Kent's] accession to the Bench, was probably 
much the same as it had been, with little variation, from the close 
of the Revolution. It was not a condition that reflected credit on the 
jurisprudence of the State ; it was not such as the character and the 
honor of the State and the interests of the public demanded." He 
then proceeds to show with what marked celerity and efifectiveness 
this unhappy condition was remedied, largely by the labors of Judge 
Kent.2 

But amid all these labors Judge Kent thoroughly enjoyed his 
work upon the Supreme Court Bench, and it was with reluctance 
that he left it to become Chancellor. The Court of Chancery in 
the State of New York at that time had not acquired the high 
authority which it afterwards attained, mainly, it may be said, 
through the work of Chancellor Kent himself, and the Chancellor 
was apprehensive that he would not be able to bring the Court up 
to the standard of authority and reputation which he had set for 
himself. How abundantly he was in error in this apprehension all 
the world now knows. As to Kent's work as Chancellor, the fol- 
lowing is the estimate of Mr. Justice Story : 

1. A most interesting letter of Chancellor Kent to Thomas Washing- 
ton, a lawyer of Nashville, Tennessee, dated Oct. 6, 1828. A copy of this 
letter in full may be found in the Green Bag for May, 1897, being Vol. IX, 
No. 5, page 207. 

2. A/Discourse/on the/Life, Character and Public Services/of/James 
Kent/Late Chancellor of the State of New York/Delivered by request/be- 
fore the Judiciary and Bar of the City and State/of New York, April 12, 
1848/by/John Duer/New York/D. Appleton & Company, 200 Broadway/ 
p. Z2- 



CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 41 

It required such a man with such a mind, at once liberal, comprehen- 
sive, exact and methodical ; always reverencing authorities and bound by 
decisions ; true to the spirit yet more true to the letter of the law ; pursuing 
principles with a severe and scrupulous logic, yet blending with them the 
most persuasive equity; it required such a man, with such a mind, to un- 
fold the doctrines of chancery in our country and to settle them upon im- 
movable foundations.' 

The temptation here to review some of the immortal and con- 
trolling decisions of Chancellor Kent is very great, but it must be 
withstood and overcome because the confines of this article will 
not permit of any such thing, howsoever instructive and interesting 
such an examination could not fail to be. The subject, albeit all 
too briefly, has been treated with marked ability and discrimination 
by Judge Duer in the address to which reference has just been made, 
by William J. Curtis, Esq., of the New York Bar,- as also by Dr. 
James Brown Scott, the Solicitor of the Department of State at 
Washington, Professor of International Law in the George Wash- 
ington University, and lately technical delegate of the United States 
to the second Peace Conference at The Hague. ^ 

That the learned Chancellor keenly regretted the necessity of 
retiring from his judicial labors at the comparatively early age of 
sixty years was abundantly manifest. He had enjoyed his judicial 
work, and he made no secret of his dread of a return to the field 
of active practice. He said somewhere that he would rather saw 
wood than go back to the practice of the law. 

Most fortunately, however, — I will not say for himself but cer- 
tainly for his country and the world, — it did not become necessary 
for the learned Chancellor to re-enter the ranks of the practitioners. 

1. Article by Mr. Justice Story upon Johnson's Reports, written for the 
North American Review, in 1820. Life and Letters of Joseph Story, edited by 
his son, William W. Story, London, 1851. Vol. I, p. 232. 

2. James Kent/the Father of American Jurisprudence/An address/ 
delivered before the Alabama State Bar Association/at Montgomery/June 
15, 1900,/by/William J. Curtis/of New York/New York/The Evening Post 
Job Printing House, 156 Fulton St.,/i90o/Privately Printed,/New York 
City Bar Association Pamphlets, Vol. 141, No. 6. 

3. Great American Lawyers/A History of the Legal Profession/in 
America/edited by/William Draper Lewis/Dean of the Law Department/of 
the University of Pennsylvania/Philadelphia/The John C. Winston Company/ 
1907/ Vol. n, page 491. James Kent by Dr. James Brown Scott, Solicitor 
of the State Department, Professor of International Law in the George- 
Washington University, Editor of Scott's Cases on International Law and 
Managing Editor of the American Journal of International Law. 



42 CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 

Immediately after leaving the Bench he was appointed, or rather 
reappointed, to the honorable position of Professor of Law at 
Colum.bia College. To that appointment all mankind is indebted 
for the Commentaries. Judge Duer in the address already alluded 
to spoke of this occasion (page 70) as follows : " As a Judge and 
as Chancellor he had done enough for his own fame and for the 
interests and honor of his own State. It was to the whole Union 
that his services were now due, and were soon to be rendered." 

This was not the first time that Columbia University had sought 
the services of the distinguished Yalensian in the guidance of her 
School of Law. In December, 1793, thirty years before, it had 
appointed " James Kent Esquire " Professor of Law. Even in those 
early days he had entered upon the discharge of his duties with 
his accustomed zeal and thoroughness. A year was to intervene 
between his appointment and the beginning of his lectures, and in 
this interval he prepared with the greatest care an " Introductory 
lecture" for the use of his prospective students.^ The whole lec- 
ture is interesting and charming in a high degree, but we can give 
only a short excerpt : 

This is a sketch of tlie outlines of the course of lectures which are be- 
fore me. The anxieties which are felt for the execution, are in some 
measure proportioned to the impressions which result from the dignity of 
the subject, and the interesting nature of this institution. The science of 
law, has expressly for its object the advancement of social happiness and 
security. It reaches to every tie which is endearing to the affections, and has 
a concern on every action which takes place in the extensive circles of pub- 
lic and private life. According to the lively expression of Lord Bacon, it 
may justly be said to come home to every man's business and bosom. 

But notwithstanding the care and pains with which the young 
lecturer prepared himself for his duty, the result was failure. He 
tells his own story of this undertaking on the fly leaf of his copy 
of these first law lectures in the following note : 

I was appointed Professor of Law in Columbia College, December 24, 
1793- On the 17th of November, 1794, I commenced the reading of a course 



I. An introductory lecture to a course of law lectures, delivered No- 
vember 17, 1794, by James Kent, Esquire, Professor of Law in Columbia 
College. Published at the request of the trustees. New York. Printed by 
Francis Childs, 1794. The original of tliis pamphlet is now in the possession 
of the trustees of Columbia College, at tlieir office, 6s Wall street. New York 
City. A reprint of it has been pubhshed in the Columbia Law Review, Vol. 
Ill, p. 330 (1903). 



CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 43 

of lectures in the College Hall and delivered the introductory lecture. I 
read that season 26 lectures (two a week) and was honored by the atten- 
dance throughout the course of seven students and thirty-six gentlemen, 
chiefly lawyers and law students, who did not belong to the college. Dur- 
ing my second course, commencing November 1795, I read thirty-one lec- 
tures in my office and had only two students besides my clerks. The next 
season I attempted another course, but no students offering to attend, I dis- 
missed the business, and in May 1797, sent a letter of resignation to the 
trustees.' 

What a world of meaning and of encouragement there is in these 
lines to every student, practitioner or lecturer in the law ! 

It was therefore particularly and doubly gratifying to the Chan- 
cellor when, upon his retirement from the Bench, the trustees of the 
same University elevated him to the same responsible position, not- 
withstanding his apparent failure of thirty years before. 

The Chancellor lost no time in beginning, now for the second 
time, his course of instruction, and he pursued it with the same 
thoroughness and care with which he did, and always had done, 
everything he laid his hand to. On November 9th, 1824, he wrote 
his brother Moss Kent on the subject as follows: 

I have commenced my lectures and they give me a good deal of trouble 
and anxiety. I am compelled to study and write all the time, as if I was 
under the whip and spur. But I take early and regular and habitual exer- 
cise, and am very temperate, and on the whole am very healthy. I have 
no reason to complain, but on the contrary have the most persuasive mo- 
tives of gratitude to God for his continuous goodness." 

In 1826 he concluded to publish his lectures and the first volume 
appeared in that year. That he had no premeditation or precon- 
ception of the character of this work is manifest. In the letter to 
Mr. Washington, already referred to, the Chancellor, referring to 
this subject, said : 

* * * It was my son who pressed me to prepare a volume of the 
lectures for the press. I had no idea of publishing them when I delivered 
them. I wrote anew one volume and published it, as you know. This led 
me to remodel and enlarge, and now the third volume will be out in a few 
days, and I am obliged to write a fourth to complete my plan. 

His intention at first was to publish only one volume, although 
he suggests the need of a second. The result was four volumes. 

1. Memoirs, p. 76. 

2. Memoirs, p. 192. 



44 CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 

The second was published by the same publisher in 1827 ; the third 
in 1828, and the fourth and last in 1830/ This monumental and 
immortal work flowed from the pen of this deeply and thoroughly 
learned author in the course of four short years. Such a thing would 
have been an utter impossibility but for the foundation that had 
been laid from the beginning, and but for his constant practice of 
doing everything he did with the utmost accuracy and thorough- 
ness. 

Volumes could be filled in merely setting forth the eulogistic 
comments which have from the beginning resounded through the 
civilized world with respect to this great work. It will only be 
possible in the space of this paper to give a very few. A perusal 
of them leaves no doubt whatsoever that the work, in all its various 
branches, is esteemed as of the highest authority by the leading 
specialists in all the departments of the law, public as well as private, 
international as well as municipal. 

Mr. Justice Story expresses his view in the most solemn and 
public manner. As all know, in dedicating his own great work on 
the Conflict of Laws to Chancellor Kent, he wrote on Jan. i, 1834, 
as follows : 

It is now about thirty-six years since you began your judicial career 
on the bench of the Supreme Court of the State of New York. In the in- 
tervening period between that time and the present, you have successively oc- 
cupied the offices of Chief Justice and of Chancellor of the same State. I 
speak but the common voice of the profession and the public when I say, 
that in each of these stations you have brought to its duties a maturity of 
judgment, a depth of learning, a fidelity of purpose, and an enthusiasm for 
justice, which have laid the solid foundations of an imperishable fame. In 
the full vigor of your intellectual powers, you left the bench only to en- 
gage in a new task, which of itself seemed to demand by its extent and 



I. Thus the first Edition of the Commentaries was published volume 
by volume from 1826 to 1830, all by the same publisher, W. O. Halsted. The 
title page of the first volume is as follows : Commentaries/on/American 

law/by James Kent/vol. I/New York/published by O. Halsted/Corner/ 

of Wall & Broad Streets/1826. The Chancellor himself supervised 
the first four editions, including the first. Ten have been brought 
out since his death, the fourteenth and last in 1896. The title 
page of this is : Commenlarics/on/American Law/by James Kent/ 
Twelfth Edition/Edited by/0. W. Holmes, Jr./Fourteenth Edition/ 
Edited by/John M. Gould, Ph. D./Author of/Law of Waters, joint author 
of Gould and Tucker's/Notes on the U. S. Revised Statutes, etc/Boston/ 
Little, Brown and Company/1896/ 



CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 45 

magnitude a whole life of strenuous diligence. That task has been accom- 
plished. The Commentaries on American Law have already acquired the 
reputation of a juridical classic, and have placed their author in the first 
rank of the benefactors of the profession. You have done for America what 
Mr. Justice Blackstone in his invaluable Commentaries has done for Eng- 
land. You have embodied the principles of our law in pages as attractive by 
the persuasive elegance of their style as they are instructive by the fulness 
and accuracy of their learning. 

This was but Story's mature confirmation of the judgment he had 
expressed when first perusing the second volume of Kent's Com- 
mentaries on its appearance from the press. In a letter to the Chan- 
cellor on that occasion he wrote, among other expressions of 
approval, " It will become an American text-book, and range on the 
same shelf with the classical work of Blackstone in all our libraries," 
and then added : 

To show you that I speak not at random, I have had occasion to read 
through your whole chapter as to the relation of husband and wife, and 
particularly what respects her power over her separate property, to hold as 
well as to dispose of it, on account of a very interesting case, recently 
argued before me, upon the effect of post-nuptial settlements to a large 
amount. I was happy to find that we had read the authorities alike, and 
stood upon the same conclusions. In the opinion which I shall soon de- 
liver, I shall rely upon your Commentaries with emphasis.^ 

Calvo, in his dictionary of international law, speaking of Kent's 
Commentaries in relation to that topic, says, that the only cause of 
regret is that, following the method of his work. Judge Kent has 
limited himself to treating the subject summarily ; but that, not- 
withstanding this, his work is justly considered as a veritable digest 
of American law, and the best source to consult on that subjcct.- 
And in his great work on international law^ the same author quotes 
Chancellor Kent's opinion as authority on no less than twenty-three 

1. Life and Letters/of/Joseph Story/Associate Justice of the Supreme 
Court of the United States/and Dane Professor of Law at Harvard Uni- 
versity/Edited by his son/William W. Story/Boston/Charles C. Little and 
James Brown/1851. Vol. I, p. 526. 

2. Dictionnaire/de/Droit International/ Public et Prive/{i885) Vol. 
/, p. 420; II est seulement a regretter que, d'apres la nature meme de son 
ouvrage, le juge Kent n'ait fait qu'aborder sommairement ce sujet.- Quoi 
qu'il en soit, son livre est a juste litre considere comme un veritable digeste 
du droit americain et la meilleure source a consulter sur cette matiere. 



46 CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 

heads of international law, many of them the most important of the 
science.^ 

The disting-uished German publicist and scholar, Robert von 
Mohl, expressed his appreciation of Kent's work and character, in 
the following terms : " 

Ueberall tritt der ausgezeichnete Praktiker, der in Abwagung von 
Entscheidungsgrunden geiibte Richter, der mit den Prajudicien vertraute 
Anglo-Amerikanische Rechtsgelehrte auf eine eindruckmachende Weise ent- 
gegen. Es giebt nicht viele Biicher, welche fiir den Verfasser das Gefiihl 
der personlichen Achtung in gleichem masse erweckten, order in welchen 
der Stoffmit solcher Sicherheit and Meisterschaft gehandhabt wiirde * * 
* * * Wenn irgendwo das Wort 'praktisches' Volkerrecht an der Stelle 
ist so ist es hier.-* 

Professor Abdy in his " Kent's Commentaries on International 
Law," in the preface to his first edition of 1866, writes as follows: 

I. Le Droit /International/Theorique et Pratique/Precede d'un Expose 
Historiquc/des Progres de la Science du Droit des gens/par/M. Charles 
Calvo/Envoye Extraordinaire et Ministre Plenipotentaire de la Rcpublique 
Argentine /aiiprcs de S. M. L'Einpercur D'Allemagne Associe Etranger de 
rinstitut de France/, Membre d'Honneur de I'Institut de Droit Interna- 
tional/, I' Academic des Sciences Morales et Politiques/de L' Academic Royale 
D'Historie de Madrid, etc./Cinquicme Edition. {Paris, Arthur Rousseau, 
£diteur, i8g6). The general index under the title Kent {vol. 5, page 56s) 
gives the following references: 

Sa Definition du droit des gen, i ; Son opinion stir les sources du droit, 
28; Son Digeste du droit americain, 120; Sa classification du domicile, 6^6; 
Son opinion sur I' extradition, 95/; sur I'extradition des nationaux, 1028; sur 
le commerce entre belligerants, 1926; sur les prises maritimes, 2296; sur les 
commissions multiples, 2300; sur la propriete in transitu, 2361; sur la notifica- 
tion du blocus, 2849; Sa definition des sieges et blocus, 2827; Son opinion sur 
les traites de visile, 2946; sur le convoi, 2980; sur la nationalite des tribunaux 
des prises, 3041; sur le caractere des cours de prises, 3046; sur les prises 
neutres, 3055; sur le convoi, 2980; sur la destruction des prises, 3031; sur la 
nationalite des tribunaux de prises, 3041; sur le siege des cours de prises, 
3056; sur les prises faites apres la cessation des hostilitcs, 31 S7- 

2 Handbuch des Volkerrechts/auf Grundlage Europdischer Staatspraris 
/von Dr. Franz von Holtzendorff, Professor der Rechte/Berlin 1885/Vol. I, 
p. 500. 

3 Above all we are impressed by the distinguished man, trained in prac- 
tical affairs, by the judge skilled in the weighing of the grounds of judg- 
ment, and by the Anglo-American jurist armed with authorities in an im- 
pressive way. There are not many books which awaken for their author 
the feeling of personal respect in a like degree, or in which the material is 
handled with such sureness and mastership. If ever the word practical in- 
ternational law is applicable, it is so here. 



CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 47 

The Science of International Law has never lacked able and eloquent 
exponents from the times of Ayala and Alberic Gentili down to our own. 
But it must be acknowledged that, among modern authors at all events, 
there are three whose learning and labor as judges and writers, have shed 
glory over the legal literature of the United States and have earned the 
singular distinction of being recognized as authorities on International Law 
throughout Europe. I need scarcely say that I speak of the honored names 
of Story, Wheaton and Kent. * * * The third, Mr. Chancellor 
Kent, has given us the result of years of professional labor, 
and a life spent in study, in a work which, if small so far 
as International Law is concerned, contains within its pages wisdom, 
critical skill, and judicial acumen of the highest kind. For my 
part, I have so often derived pleasure as well as gain from Kent's Com- 
mentaries on Law, in every part of that treatise, that I feel a kind of ven- 
eration for his name; and I do most cordially assent to the language of 
praise in which a modern writer speaks of him as "the greatest jurist whom 
this age has produced, whose writings may safely be said to be never 
wrong.* 

Mr. G. Vernon Harcourt, in his Famous Letters by Historicus 
in 1862, after taking exception to certain doctrines expressed by 
certain writers on international law, says : 

Permit me while I am warning your readers against false lights to re- 
fer them to a guide who will never lead them astray — to the greatest jurist 
whom this age has produced — I mean the American, Chancellor Kent. Of 
his writings may safely be said that they are never wrong. The exposition 
of international law contained in the first volume of the Commentaries has 
but one fault — that of being too short.' 

And one of our most learned and distinguished judges in this 
country not long ago expressed the opinion that in his judgment 
the fourth volume of Kent's Commentaries is the best text-book 
we have to-day on the law of real property, really far better for the 
purposes of the schools than most of the modern text books on 
that subject, and also much the most useful work upon the subject 
for the guidance of the practitio ner.^ 

1. Kent's Commentaries on International Law; edited by J. T. Abdy, 
LL. D., Judge of County Courts and Law Professor at Gresham College, 
late Regeis Professor of Law in the University of Cambridge. Second Edi- 
tion, revised and brought down to the present time. London and Cam- 
bridge, 1878. Preface to the first edition. 

2. Letters by Historicus/on some questions/of/International Law/Re- 
printed from 'The Times'/with considerable additions/London and Cam- 
bridge/Macmillan & Co./1863/First letter on Neutral Trade in Contraband 
War, at p. 129. 

3. Hon. George C. Holt, (Yale 1866) ; one of the Judges of the 
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. 



48 CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 

Amid all of his engrossing labors the learned Chancellor was 
ever at the call of his fellow citizens to render any public service 
within his power. Thus in the spring of 1831, the country being 
greatly aroused by the great debate upon Foote's resolution, in 
which Webster and Hayne, of South Carolina, took so conspicuous 
a part, the citizens of New York tendered to Mr. Webster the com- 
pliment of a public dinner and Chancellor Kent was called upon to 
preside. His address on that occasion was a master piece. After 
alluding to the historic debate and the character of Mr. Webster's 
great speeches, especially that in reply to the second speech of Hayne, 
he spoke as follows : 

The consequences of that discussion have been extremely beneficial. It 
turned the attention of the public to the great doctrines of national rights 
and national union. Constitutional law ceased to remain wrapped up in the 
breasts, and taught only by the responses, of the living oracles of the law. 
Socrates was said to have drawn down philosophy from the skies, and scat- 
tered it among the schools. It may with equal truth be said that constitu- 
tional law by means of those Senatorial discussions and a master genius 
that guided them was rescued from the archives of our tribunals and the 
libraries of our lawyers, and placed under the eye and submitted to the 
judgment of the American people. Their verdict is with us and from it 
there lies no appeal.^ 

In May, 1832, a public dinner was tendered to Washington 
Irving by his friends and admirers upon the occasion of his return 
home after a long sojourn abroad. This dinner was a famous one 
of the time. It was given at the City Hotel in New York, and 
Chancellor Kent again presided. His charming and graceful address 
upon this occasion may be found at pages 231-235 of Mr. William 
Kent's Memoirs. Lack of space forbids my giving any portion of 
it here, but the following letter on the subject from Mr. Webster, 
found among the Kent manuscripts, is too interesting to be omitted: 

My Dear Sir Washington. June s, 1832. 

I have just opened the newspaper and read the account of Mr. Irving's 
dinner, and your speech thereat; and I resolved forthwith to write you one 
line, for the purpose of saying that the speech is a delightful little thing, 
just, sweet, affectionate. When I read the paragraph in which you pre- 
fer what relates to the blue hills and mountain glens of our own country 

I. The Writings and Speeches of Daniel Webster, National Edition in 
eighteen volumes. Boston/Little, Brown & C0./1903/V0I. i, p. 92; Vol. 2, 
p. 43. 



CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 49 

to sketches of foreign scenes and foreign countries, I wanted to seize your 
hand and give it a hearty shake of sympathy. Heaven bless this goodly 
land of our fathers ! Its rulers and its people may commit a thousand fol- 
lies, yet Heaven bless it! Next to the friends beloved of my heart, those 
same hills and glens, and native woods and native streams, will have my 
last earthly recollections ! Dtilce et decorum est, ctc.^ 

Mr. W'ebster held Chancellor Kent in very high regard. He 
keenly felt the loss to the country in the Chancellor's enforced 
retirement from the bench. Shortly before that event he recom- 
mended him for the Presidency of Dartmouth College, and shortly 
after it for appointment upon the Bench of the Supreme Court. 
In his letter with respect to Dartmouth College he suggests that 
the salary of the President should be two thousand dollars a year, 
that he should be given a long vacation in winter, and that he 
should be free " from all clerical labor, such as attending prayers, 
etc.^ The vacancy for which he urged the Chancellor for the 
Supreme bench was that caused by the death of Mr. Justice Living- 
ston. On April i6, 1823, he wrote a letter to Mr. Justice Story on 
the subject, in which he said in part as follows :^ 

You will naturally be anxious to know whether anything is done here 
as yet in relation to the appointment of your associate upon the Bench. No 
appointment has been made. Mr. Thompson will be appointed if he chooses 
to take the office, but he has not made up his mind, as I understand, as yet 
so to do. If called on now to decide, it is said he will decline. I cannot ac- 
count for his hesitation, but on the supposition, which I have heard sug- 
gested, but cannot credit, that he thinks it possible events may throw an- 
other and a higher office in his way. 

When a man finds himself in a situation he hardly ever dreamed of, 
he is apt to take it for granted that he is a favorite of fortune, and to pre- 
sume that his blind patroness may have yet greater things in reserve for him. 

In the event of his finally declining, those now talked of as prominent 
candidates are James Kent and Ambrose Spencer. If a nomination were 
now to be made, I think it would be the former of these two names, al- 
though there are those who wish to give a decided rebuke to the Bucktails^ 
of New York by appointing Mr. Spencer. What time may produce no one 
can say. 



1. Kent Manuscripts, Vol. 6. 

2. The Writings and Speeches of Daniel Webster. Little, Brown & 
Co., Boston, (1903). Vol. XVI, p. 66. 

3. The Writings and Speeches of Daniel Webster. Little, Brown & 
Co., Boston, (1903). Vol. XVI, p. 75. 

4. A name given to a political party in New York opposed to De Witt 
Clinton and internal improvements. 



50 CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 

In this connection a petition dated April 22, 1823, was addressed 
to the Honorable William Wirt, then Attorney-General of the 
United States, by a number of the members of the New York Bar, 
also recommending Chancellor Kent for the appointment to this 
vacancy. This petition bears the names, among others, of Thomas 
Addis Emmet, John Wells, Samuel Jones, David B. Ogden, William 
Johnson, Peter Augustus Jay and John Anthon. In his letter to 
President Monroe transmitting the petition, the Attorney-General 
writes : 

My messenger will wait to bring back Mr. Ogden's letter. Jones and 
Henry whom he mentions [doubtless as recommending the appointment of 
Chancellor Kent] both stand high in their profession — Wells very high — but 
I believe they are all Federalists — Wells certainly is. Whether they are 
rancorous and how they acted during the war I know not.^ 

On October 31, 1836, the organization known as "The Law 
Association of the City of New York," held a convention in that 
city, and on that occasion Chancellor Kent was called upon to deliver 
an address, which was so highly esteemed that it was afterwards 
published at the request of the Association. His topic was the 
responsibilities and duties of the legal profession, and this address 
is justly regarded as one of the loftiest utterances upon that impor- 
tant subject.^ Among other things, he said: 

The cultivation and practice of the law is, and ought to be, a sure road 
to personal prosperity and to political eminence and fame, provided, the 
members of the bar render themselves worthy of public confidence by their 
skill and industry, their knowledge, integrity and honour, their public spirit 
and manly deportment, their purity, moderation and wisdom. There can be 
no competitors in the race to be drawn from the other classes of society 
that can compete with them if they will only diligently strive to acquire, and 
they will, in that case, be almost sure to attain, the solid, useful and orna- 
mental qualifications which belong to their elevated calling. Legal learning 
is, in a very considerable degree, indispensable to all persons who are in- 
vited tQ administer any material portion of the authority of government, and 
especially if it becomes the province of their trust to make, amend, and di- 
gest the law of the land, or judicially to expound and apply its provisions 
to individual cases in the regular course of justice. 

1. Manuscript petition and letter in the possession of the Bar Asso- 
ciation of the City of New York. 

2. An Address/Delivered before/The Law Association/of the City of 
New York/October 21st, 1836/by/The Honorable James Kent/Published at 
the request of the Association/New York/G. & C. Carvill & Co./i836/(page 

s.) 



CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 51 

And then follow some words and some sound precepts which 
seem singularly applicable to the conditions of the present day : 

I am induced to press these considerations upon youns? and ardent 
minds, as I apprehend the tendency of things at present is to disenchant the 
profession of much of its attraction. We live in a period of uncommon ex- 
citement. The spirit of the age is restless, presumptuous, and revolutionary. 
The rapidly increasing appetite for wealth, the inordinate taste for luxury 
which it engenders, the vehement spirit of speculation and the selfish emula- 
tion which it creates, the growing contempt for slow and moderate gains, 
the ardent thirst for pleasure and amusement, the diminishing reverence 
for the wisdom of the past, the disregard of the lessons of experience, the 
authority of magistracy, and the venerable institutions of ancestral policy, 
are so many bad symptoms of a diseased state of the public mind. It will 
require a most determined perseverance and firmness of purpose, and the 
most devoted zeal in the rising members of the bar, to resist the contagion, 
and pursue triumphantly the rewards and honours of professional reputa- 
tion. They must be constantly on their guard against an intemperate avidity 
for wealth, or too engrossing a love of pleasure or listening prematurely, 
and with too ready an ear, to the dangerous seductions of political ambition. 

On reading this address, Charles Sumner, on January i, 1837, 
wrote to the Chancellor regarding" it as follows : 

I gladly seize the opportunity of Judge Story's transit through New 
York to thank you for the present of your beautiful and instructive address 
delivered before the Law Association. I have read it with the greatest in- 
terest, and feel indebted to you for the elevated views which you have given 
of the study of the law, and the sketches of some of its expired lights in 
your own State. No lawyer or law student could quit it without feeling 
prouder than he was before of his chosen pursuit, and being stimulated to 
new labors, in short, without attaching himself with new zeal to the single 
talisman of success, study. 

When I think of the good which you have done, in promoting the study 
of jurisprudence, by the publication of your Commentaries and of this ad- 
dress, and by your high example, I say nothing of the sweet influence of 
your social character and the important bearings of your long judicial life, 
I cannot but envy you the feeling which you must enjoy. The mighty tribute 
of gratitude is silently offered to you from every student of the law in our 
whole country. There is not one who has found his toilsome way cheered 
and delighted by the companionship of your labors, who would not speak 
as I do, if he had the privilege of addressing you.^ 

Mr. William Allen Butler, in his learned and graceful address 
upon the Revision and the Revisers of the Statutes of the State of 
New York, has this to say of Chancellor Kent : 

James Kent, whose name stood at the head of the Commission thus con- 
stituted, had retired July 31st, 1823, from the ofiice of Chancellor. He had 

I. Memoirs, p. 236. 



52 CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 

served the state as one of the puisne Judges of the Supreme Court, from his 
first appointment, Feb. 6, 1798, to July 2d, 1804, when he became chief justice 
and so remained until February 2Sth, 1814, the date of his appoint- 
ment as Chancellor. His judicial career had placed him on the roll of 
great judges, and the wonderful revolution in the practice and administration 
of equity accomplished during the nine years of his service as Chancellor is 
attested by the tributes paid him by the Bar on his retirement and which 
occupy the concluding pages of the final volume of Johnson's Chancery Re- 
ports. 

This brilliant career on the Bench was cut short at the age of sixty 
years by the operation of the provision in the Constitution of 1821, which 
perpetuated a similar provision in the Constitution of 1777, disqualifying the 
higher judicial officers from the exercise of their duties after attaining sixty 
years of age.^ 

That Chancellor Kent was a very great jitdge and commentator 
is the common opinion of all mankind. That he was one of the 
three or four greatest American jurists, is the common opinion of 
the Profession throughout the world. He certainly ranked with 
Marshall and Story. As to which of them was the greatest is hard 
to tell and men will differ. They were all three so great, and have 
all contributed so much to the happiness and welfare of their coun- 
trymen, that a discussion of their respective abilities is not a topic 
upon which it would be fruitful to enter here. But that Kent stood 
abreast of the other two on the topmost pinnacle of our juridical 
temple there can be no doubt. 

Dr. Scott, in the admirable article already referred to- gives 
a highly careful and analytical comparison between Marshall and 
Kent, at the conclusion of which he says : 

If now we remember that Kent shone with a strong, if not an equal, 
light in these four fields of judicial activity [municipal, constitutional, inter- 
national law and chancery], and that he is scarcely inferior in any one to 
the specialist, it necessarily follows that his versatility gives him an added 
claim to reverent admiration. The rare poise and balance is not less marked 
than the solidity and breadth of attainment. If to this rounded, universal 
and almost perfect equipment, we add the very present and continuous 
claim of expounder of our law, the conclusion seems well nigh inevitable 
that Kent rightly assumes his place as the first figure in American jurispru- 
dence. 

1. The Revision of the Statutes of the State of New York and the 
Revisers. An address delivered before the Association of the Bar of the 
City of New York, January 22, 1889, by William Allen Butler. Published 
for the Association, New York and Albany. Banks & Bros., Law Pub- 
lishers, 1889. 

2. Supra, page 41, note 3. 















"^■,...^.....,, 



/_<:^ ^^ y^:^, ,:,^^ c-'^-^^(h2?^ 



Facsimile of Chancellor Kent's note in Barber's New Haven 

See page 13 and Note 4 on same page. 



CHANCELLOR KENT AT YALE 53 

One thing that strikes us with surprise in the study of Chan- 
cellor Kent, is the fact that, while a great deal has been written 
about him, no one yet has undertaken the great and comprehensive 
story of his life and writings, which ought to be, and some day 
will undoubtedly be, a monument to his fame. With the exception 
of the few permanent authorities referred to in the foregoing pages, 
all is of a fugitive character as compared with the records regarding 
his great confreres Marshall, Story and the others. Chancellor Kent 
has not yet had his due in this regard. In one sense this may not 
be regrettable, for the result may be all the more adequate for being 
delayed. The work will be a great one, requiring in its accomplish- 
ment great capacity, acquirement and devotion, but the proper 
accomplishment of it will not fail to bring high and lasting honor 
to him who shall achieve it. Who it shall be we cannot tell. But 
if we might respectfully venture a suggestion, it would be that we 
have in our own midst an honored professor and distinguished judge 
who possesses in such a high degree all the qualities of mind, and 
in addition such peculiar bonds of heredity and sympathy with the 
subject, that all things seem to point to him as pre-eminently qualified 
for this great task. But, who ever it shall be, if by these pages 
I shall have done even the least to forward it, I shall be profoundly 
grateful. 

As I look back upon the pages of this paper I am reminded of 
the young lady who said that Hamlet and Othello were so full of 
quotations. I plead in extenuation, however, first, that it was best, 
wherever possible, that the Chancellor should tell his own story; 
and, secondly, that w^here others, so much better fitted than myself, 
have contributed to illustrate and adorn that story, it was best that 
they should do it here. 

The situation may also remind us of the anecdote told of an 
aspiring member of the Yale class of 1866, who in his Freshman 
year was delivering his first oratorical effort. That effort, likewise, 
consisted mainly of a succession of extracts from the writings of 
one great man after another, with comparatively little of the Fresh- 
man's own work between; then finally, having thus borrowed from 
a number of the Fathers, he concluded with a long quotation, which, 
as he put it, was " from the pen of the great James Kent of the 
class of 1 781, the famous Judge and Chancellor of the State of 
New York and the distinguished LINONIAN ! " 



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